Four A&E consultants who quit their hospital have today revealed they resigned after becoming 'battle weary and exhausted' from years of fighting against budget cuts. The entire A&E team at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, Worcestershire, walked out on February 13 amid alleged rows with the management. On the same day a consultant at nearby Worcestershire Royal Hospital also resigned. In a damning open letter to the trust, four of the consultants branded the NHS trust a 'disgrace' and claimed they had been put under 'unbearable stress'. The 1,700 word letter, signed by Richard Morrell, Sarah Crawford, Christopher Hetherington and David Gemmell, said: 'The trust appears to tolerate massive overcrowding in the county's A&E departments. Four A&E consultants who resigned from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch last month, have written an open letter to the trust branding it a 'disgrace' and claiming they were put under 'unbearable pressure' 'This is a disgrace and a patient safety issue which causes serious harm to many patients and intolerable stress on all A&E staff. 'The situation has taken a heavy toll on our personal and family lives - the stress has been unbearable at times. 'We are battle-weary and exhausted by the continuous pressure that we have been under. 'We can no longer see a way forward to secure safe and sustainable A&E services at the Alexandra Hospital especially whilst the current senior management and senior clinical leadership remains in place.' The consultants also say they invested years of work into maintaining patient care but felt decisions made by the trust's management had 'undermined' services at the hospital. 'These in turn have led to the self-fulfilling prophecy of failing and unsustainable services,' they said. They added that they feared resources were 'heavily weighted' in favour of people in Worcester at the expense of patients in nearby Redditch who use the Alexandra Hospital. They also said they had raised concerns several times but believed they had not been listened to and felt they had no choice but to resign. The letter is not signed by the fifth consultant, who worked at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital. The NHS Trust has published a 720-word response in which it said they were 'disappointed' the consultants had not recognised the pressure the trust was under. A statement read: 'We are disappointed that our ED colleagues have not acknowledged the serious challenges to NHS services in this area that drove the need to review and reconfigure key medical services – changes that are essential to improve patient care across the entire county and beyond.' On the same day a consultant at nearby Worcestershire Royal Hospital also resigned. The Trust said it is disappointed the doctors did not recognise the pressure the NHS services in the area were under . It added: 'Unfortunately, recruitment efforts for years have failed to improve the shortfall of medical staff at the Alexandra Hospital, and this is predicted to cause potential risks for patients in the future. 'This means that some clinical departments need to be reorganised. Such decisions are never taken lightly. 'Change, even when essential for patient care, can be difficult and inconvenient for staff, but facts need to be faced and will not be altered if we fail to confront them. 'It would be better if the consultants had stayed to work with the trust to support the development of emergency services for the whole county.' The consultants' letter praised the team they worked with in the emergency department at the Alexandra Hospital. 'We have built a unit which is recognised for good patient care and excellent training,' they said. 'We have had the pleasure of encouraging a passion for Emergency Medicine in many trainees over the years who are now consultants all over the country. 'We would like to thank all of our A&E staff who have given us their unfailing support and loyalty over the years and helped us to build a quality service. 'All of them should be justly proud of their achievements which we and the patients have benefited from. 'We would also like to thank the many trainees, staff and patients who have made such kind comments over the last few difficult days - we have all been greatly moved.' The Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust told MailOnline it is in discussions with a number of potential partners to replace the A&E team. Penny Venables, the Trust's chief executive said: 'We are disappointed that a number of our Emergency Department consultants have decided to leave us in order to work for another NHS Trust. 'But we are making strenuous efforts to ensure they are replaced and we are doing everything we can to ensure we maintain a continuous, high quality service for local patients. 'We have received offers of support from a number of individual A&E consultants and from neighbouring Trusts and we are now in discussions with various people as we seek to ensure continuity of service.' A trust spokeswoman said it has taken the decision to publish in full on the website, both the consultants' letter and the response from senior colleagues. She said recent discussion on social media suggested 'quite wrongly' that the consultants had been 'gagged'. 'In order to demonstrate that this wasn't the case the Trust has decided to publish their letter,' she said. The Trust has commissioned the Good Governance Institute to lead an independent review to investigate allegations around bullying and harassment. Ms Venables said: 'We take any and all such allegations very seriously. This is why we asked the NHS Trust Development Authority to commission a completely independent review.'
Four consultants at Alexandra Hospital in Redditch resigned last month . Damning open letter today reveals they faced 'unbearable stress'
Accused trust of 'tolerating massive overcrowding' of the A&E department . A fifth consultant from neighbouring Worcestershire Royal Hospital quit . Hospital said it is 'disappointed' doctors didn't recognise 'the serious challenges to NHS' and that change was needed to improve patient care .