AN experienced consultant has criticised “a catalogue of mismanagement and incompetence” at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust and says staff should not be made to pay for the board’s failures.

Private consultant orthopaedic surgeon Tony Banks said asking consultants to donate their pay was “adding insult to injury”.

Mr Banks worked at the Royal Bolton Hospital for 25 years until he retired five years ago.

The 67-year-old is semi-retired and runs consulting rooms part-time in Bolton.

He said hospital management has been “utterly shambolic” and it had affected ordinary staff’s morale.

Mr Banks added: “It’s not the consultant body or the nurses. We are talking about mismanagement on a monstrous scale. The hospital needs somebody to put a firm hand on it and stabilise it.

“Adding insult to injury, the consultant body has been asked to donate from their pay to prop up this management. There is no evidence that senior management have been asked to do the same thing.”

There have been significant changes at the Trust in the last six months.

Chairman Cliff Morris stepped down from the role two months early and health watchdog Monitor took the unusual step of intervening in the Trust, which was already at “red risk” for missing key healthcare targets, after a damning financial report said finances had “deteriorated significantly”.

New chairman David Wakefield was appointed by the health watchdog Monitor in August.

The board, which was criticised by health watchdog Monitor for poor governance, has seen a number of other high profile shake-ups in the past few months.

Jackie Bene, consultant and former medical director at the Royal Bolton Hospital, has been made acting chief executive following Lesley Doherty’s early retirement.

Dr Bene’s role as medical director has been filled by orthopaedic surgeon and head of division elective care at the Royal Bolton Hospital, Steve Hodgson.

In September, the director of finance, Gary Raphael, left his post at the trust by “mutual agreement”. He was temporarily replaced by Wendy Hull, who left the trust in October and the position is now being filled by interim Andy Morris.

The interim chief operations officer Jeremy Tozer, who replaced Andrew Cogan in May, also left the trust in October. He was then replaced by Jon Scott.

A temporary turnaround director, Terry Watson, was appointed in September. This is a new position created as part of a £1 million turnaround package.

There have also been changes to the non-executive board members.