MEDICAL staff are not ready to take on the extra demand due to a lack of doctors at a hospice, it is claimed.

Freddie Dawkins, chairman of the advisory board at HealthWatch Southend, said the decision had left medical staff concerned.

He said: “We are disappointed that Fair Havens, though they were fully aware of the retirement of their only specialist doctor, could not find a replacement in time.

“The movement of end-of-life patients back to their homes – or similar hospice facilities – at such a critical time is not ideal. And Fair Havens are now putting a lot of extra stress on their hard-working staff of nurses and palliative care specialists, as they will have to travel around to private homes.

“The nurses can be utilised to some extent but the complex cases were admitted to the in-patient unit for symptom control, which the departing doctor excelled at.

“With zero consultant input, the pressure on patients’ own GPs and other hospice staff will be considerable.”

Mr Dawkins added: “I spoke to two of the Fair Havens nurses when this news broke at the weekend, and they had not been consulted and expressed their serious concerns on the mental health of patients at such a vulnerable period of their lives.”

The hospice could be closed to some patients for three months.

Fair Havens Hospice this week said it would only be treating terminally ill patients in their homes for a minimum of nine weeks as it struggles to cope with a doctor shortage and a move to a new building.

It has since revealed it is “aiming for March” to resume caring for in-patients at a new purpose-built hospice being constructed in Priory Crescent, Prittlewell.

The move follows the retirement of a long-standing palliative care consultant on secondment at the hospice from Southend Hospital, amid a national shortage of doctors with expertise in the field.

Clinical commissioning groups and GPs were said to have been informed last week about the changes.

The new hospice will replaces its current unsuitable premises in Chalkwell Avenue, Westcliff which opened in 1983. The new building is set to open in the spring but staffing is now a concern.