A HOSPITAL was so inundated with patients, it breached the waiting time target 58 times at the weekend, the Echo can reveal.

Southend Hospital dealt with nearly 530 patients, but failed 58 times to see people within four hours The failure to meet the Government-set target is likely to attract hefty fines from health watchdog Monitor when the hospital is facing a potential £20million financial hole.

A doctor, who asked not to be named, said the hospital didn’t have enough beds to cope with the number of patients it was having to treat.

He said: “In my opinion, there are not enough beds to cope. I have worked at the hospital for a number of years and this is as bad as its got this year. It’s not the worst it has ever been, but given it is not the peak winter period, it is worrying.

“In my view, the morale of staff is particularly lowat the moment.

I have a number of staff legitimately off sick in my own department who aren’t being replaced.”

Dr Marimuthu Velmurugan, a governor of Southend Hospital andaWestcliff GP and councillor, said: “My sympathies lie with the hospital trust and the chief executive.

“I blame the politicians. This A&E crisis will never be solved in my lifetime.

“Labour are spendthrift and Conservatives are butchers and I can’t see an end to it no matter who is in power.” Jon Findlay, the hospital’s chief operating officer, said: “Everyone was seen, but unfortunately, because of demand, some patients waited longer than we would have liked.

“The weekend was particularly challenging with a high demand of patients arriving on both Saturday and Sunday, nearly 530.

But it was less about the volume and more about the high number that were very sick and required lots of care and support within A&E. Over the last year we have been the best-performing trust in Essex, with 94 per cent of patients being seen, diagnosed, treated and either admitted or discharged within the four-hour standard.

Last weekend we had 58 breaches of this standard.”

Mr Findlay added: “Scheduled routine reviews regarding our bed state happen several times a day, seven days a week. This allows us to constantly review the demands to help us provide the best service for patients.

“The Easter period is one of the busiest times for A&E and we are working closelywith our partners in the community to help ease pressures and advise on alternatives, for example there is an advert going in the Echo tomorrow from Southend Clinical Commissioning Group, Castle Point and Rochford Clinical Care Commissioning Group and Southend Council promoting alternatives to A&E this Bank Holiday weekend.

“And we’ll also be posting helpful info on social media to help spread the word. Follow us on Twitter at @SouthendNHS.”