HOSPITAL bosses in Worcestershire have continued to refuse to disclose why five A&E consultants resigned last month, despite apparently being given permission by the doctors themselves to do so.

The five consultants, including the entire team at Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital, all handed in their notice on Friday, February 13, leaving Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – the organisation running the Alex as well as Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Kidderminster Hospital – reeling.

The trust’s chairman Harry Turner, chief executive Penny Venables and director of resources Chris Tidman were grilled at a meeting of Worcestershire County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Tuesday, March 3, where they faced calls to reveal why the consultants had resigned.

Although committee member for Redditch Borough Council Cllr Pat Witherspoon and chairman of pressure group Save the Alex Neal Stote said they both understood all five consultants had written to the trust’s board saying they were happy with their reasons being made public, Mrs Venables said she and her colleagues had since met with them and agreed to keep this confidential.

“Different views have been expressed but they are part of private discussions,” she said.

“We are not able, as we wouldn’t with any other member of staff, to discuss their reasons for leaving.”

She added all five consultants had agreed to continue in their roles until at least May – with some agreeing to stay longer – and, despite claims made by a number of groups, there were no suggestions the resignations were the result of bullying.

A review of hospital services in the county, which began in 2012 and is still running three years later, has lead to uncertainty around the future of services at the Alex, with some expressing concerns its A&E department could be closed altogether.

Committee member for Worcestershire County Council Cllr Tony Miller said this uncertainty had been causing significant concern among staff at the Alex for some time.

“Two years ago at one of these meetings I pointed out that the feeling at the Alex was not good with staff,” he said.

“When you have a problem with mass resignations it has normally been a problem with management not listening.

“If this is the case the problem may not be with the consultants – it may be with the management, which would not change with replacing consultants.”

He added the continued uncertainty would make it extremely difficult for the trust to recruit replacements and force it instead to rely upon expensive temporary staff.

“Consultants don’t just fall out of trees,” he said.

“We need to create an attractive situation for consultants and we not going to do that at the moment.”

Mr Turner said he completely understood why staff at the Alex were concerned but he and his colleagues were committed to keeping them appraised of the latest developments.

The trust, which is reported to have a four per cent annual staff turnover, more than twice as high as the national average, advertised for consultants to fill the five vacancies on a temporary basis the week after the resignations were announced, and posted adverts for the permanent positions last week.

The organisation is also in discussions with other trusts in the surrounding area to determine if they can help mitigate the pressures.