A HOSPITAL at the centre of a whistle-blower row was plunged further into crisis when senior doctors said they had a "lack of confidence" in their bosses.

The M.E.N yesterday reported how surgeon Milton Pena faces disciplinary action for revealing that patients at Tameside General are at risk because of a nurse shortage.

He leaked shocking evidence showing three wards were being left unattended for hours. Critically-ill and elderly patients had been forced to wait all night for basic needs such as food, toiletry help and medication.

Today it has been revealed a meeting of 14 consultants at the hospital backed Mr Pena by saying the problem, raised on several occasions to the NHS trust that runs the hospital, has been badly managed. Minutes of the meeting seen by the M.E.N say: "It was agreed there is a lack of confidence in the manner the Acute Trust has managed the nursing shortfall on the wards despite the concerns expressed by doctors and nurses at various meetings with the management over the last few months."

Mr Pena, a senior orthopaedic surgeon who has worked at the hospital for eight years, had insisted that leaking details of the crisis was a last resort after raising the issue repeatedly for the last three years.

A record of his preliminary disciplinary hearing on May 27 obtained by the M.E.N shows that he tried a number of times to raise the problem.

The hearing was held in front of medical director Anthony Woodyer, nursing director Philip Dylak and Amanda Bromley, deputy director of human resources. Mr Pena told Mr Woodyer going public "was an agonising decision because this is a very significant issue". When asked what his motive was, he replied: "The well-being of my patients."

He said to Mr Woodyer: "I feel that I am on my own because this is a single person campaign. I felt, in my view, unless the public around Tameside and Manchester knew these issues, nothing would be done, therefore I decided to blow the whistle."

During the hearing, it emerged that Mr Pena had written a series of letters to senior members of the trust since February 2002. In October 2002, the trust commissioned an independent investigation which classed ward 2 as "dangerous" and wards 3 and 4 as "not adequate". But Mr Pena says the staffing situation did not improve.

He then wrote to three senior members of Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, citing 14 instances when only one qualified member of staff was on duty to cover 28 patients.

Letters

Mr Pena raised the issue again in March this year at an open forum meeting and a divisional meeting. He wrote again to trust chief executive Christine Green, but the earliest she would see him was May 11.

Mr Pena told the hearing: "I had written letters to Mr Dylak, the lead clinician, the chief executive, I have been to meetings and I think I have gone through the channels for enough time to go through the media." Hospital bosses do not deny the problems Mr Pena raised. It is understood disciplinary proceedings began because he talked to the press. He could be sacked, suspended or forced to retrain if found guilty.

A gagging memo has been sent to staff threatening them with disciplinary action if they "unreasonably" undermine public confidence in the hospital by going to the press without exhausting the trust's whistle-blowing policy.

Medical director Tony Woodyer said: "We took Mr Pena's concerns seriously from the point at which he raised them in March 2005, and some of those concerns had already been identified by the nurse director.

"An action plan has been developed and approved by the board to address a whole range of issues including a comprehensive review of the nursing establishment. I hope this will reassure the public that the issues are being fully addressed."

The M.E.N tried to contact every board member of the Tameside and Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust, which run the hospital.

We asked for their views on whether Mr Pena should be facing disciplinary action for blowing the whistle on a problem he said could cost patients' lives. Most declined to comment, others were on leave. The trust refused to provide contact details for two of the members.

Chief executive Christine Green said: "No comment". Chairman Kevin Corscadden said: "No comment". Non-executive directors Philip Buckley and Dipak Chauhan said: "No comment".

The trust refused to provide details for non-executive directors David Bond and Angela Lake.

Non-executive director Mary Black was on holiday. Finance director Jonathan Stephens was on leave.

Medical director Anthony Woodyer and nursing director Philip Dylak were unavailable.

Director of planning and performance management Stephen Gardner and director of clinical services Adrian Griffiths were on leave. Human resources director Nick Grimshaw did not reply.