A HOSPITAL surgeon who turned whistle-blower to reveal that patients' lives were being put at risk by staff shortages is to face disciplinary action.

Milton Pena leaked a dossier of shame showing that vulnerable elderly and critically-ill patients at Tameside Hospital were left unattended for hours because there was not enough staff to look after them.

A nursing log for three wards revealed how patients sometimes had to wait all night for their basic needs - including food, toiletry help, medication and pulse checks.

Hospital bosses have now begun formal disciplinary proceedings against Mr Pena, 56, an orthopaedic specialist who has worked at Tameside for eight years.

He could be sacked, suspended or forced to retrain if found guilty. They do not deny the problems Mr Pena raised, but say he broke Tameside NHS Trust's whistle-blowing policy by talking to the press.

A gagging memo was also sent to staff threatening them with disciplinary action if they 'unreasonably' undermine public confidence in the hospital by going to the press. But Mr Pena has vowed to fight to keep his job and for extra staff.

He said: "The trust has decided that they have enough grounds to begin disciplinary proceedings against me. They told me it was because I went public. But I only did that because I've been raising this issue with them since July 2002 and nothing has been done."

In 2003 Mr Pena had alerted the hospital chief executive and the Healthcare Commission to more than 14 instances when only one qualified member of staff was on duty to cover 28 patients.

But he says nothing was done by the hospital, which has the second highest mortality rate in the country and the lowest doctor-and-nurse-to-bed ratio in Greater Manchester.

A spokesman for the trust declined to comment on the disciplinary proceedings, but said: "We accept that he has legitimate concerns that the trust are responding to. We are meeting with the management team on Wednesday (yesterday) to talk about these concerns."