FIVE A&E consultants may have decided to leave a troubled hospital trust because they did not want to work across two sites says an NHS boss.

Simon Trickett, chief operating officer of the South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, suggested this could be behind the departure of the consultants when he spoke at a meeting of Healthwatch Worcestershire at St Peter's baptist Church in Worcester on Wednesday.

The consultants quit last week - four from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and one from Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester - as A&E departments at both hospitals remain under unprecedented pressure which has led to patients receiving care on trolleys in hospital corridors.

Four of the consultants have been offered places at Warwick Hospital. It has previously been suggested that their departure may have been connected to a climate of uncertainty that has developed at the trust. This has been linked by some to a delayed review which could change the way care is delivered and has led to fears that the A&E at the Alexandra Hospital could close.

Mr Trickett said of the review itself: "This has been a long journey. We have been doing it for three years but we are doing it for the right reasons. It really is hard to get A&E consultants.

"There is a national shortage. To get enough to run two A&Es is a challenge. There is a lot of confidence in the model being proposed. Posts are being advertised this week. As long as they can recruit to those posts they can deliver the model. If we can't recruit to those posts we will need to think of the other options. These services under scrutiny like no other part of the health service. The safety of the service is generally good. They are under pressure during the week and that is one of the reasons they have chosen to take their services elsewhere.

Staff are still around until May and beyond and the recruitment process is already underway to try and find replacements."

He said of the departure of the consultants that the new model involved them working across both hospital sites. "I can only speculate that might not be want some people want to do. The model does involve some change for the staff and individuals involved" he said.

Redditch MP Karen Lumley has announced a meeting with Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt on Monday, February 23.

The meeting at the Department of Health in Westminster will be attended by senior officials. All three council leaders,representatives from the Save the Alex Campaign and the three local MPs will also be in attendance.

Neal Stote, from Save the Alex Campaign said “What is clear is the need to have consultants at both sites, the trusts inability to retain the staff to enable this makes the management's position untenable. It is hard to see new consultants rushing to take up jobs with this trust whilst the current management remains in place given five consultants felt the need to take the unprecedented action of resigning on mass.

"We are calling for a proven NHS trust to come in and salvage the situation which the current management have created, I believe that trust needs to be University Hospitals Birmingham. This trust has already said it will keep a consultant led A&E at the Alexandra Hospital."