THE management of the Mid and South Essex Hospitals Trust, which runs Basildon and Orsett Hospitals, has been damned by an angry MP for spending more than a million on financial consultatant – who have failed to stop a shortful in its account ledgers.

The trust looks set to massively fail the financial targets it set last year after overspending its budget by £80 million.

Now it has been instructed to "seriously raise the game" by Essex Tory MP Mark Francois after he challenged it in Parliament.

In the latest figures, the trust has fallen around £17 million short of savings it intended to make.

And Mr Francois has highlighted that the trust spent £1.25 million with accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to manage its funds better – but he says it is wasted money.

He added: "Hospital staff work extremely hard to try and deliver the best possible healthcare to the population of south east Essex. However, there have been endless changes in the management of the hospital, not least since the formation of the Mid and South Essex Trust several years ago.

"As a local MP, I am particularly disturbed to hear that some £1.25 million has been spent on consultants, trying to help the trust's senior management run its own budget – money which could have been spent on patient care.

"The leadership of the trust need to seriously raise their game."

The Trust says third-party support, including PwC, was brought in to help make the ways it works more efficient and to reduce the operating deficit, with this support it has made savings of £63.1million, and that working more efficiently also leads to better patient care.