An Essex NHS trust spent more than £1 million on accountants after overspending its budget by £80 million.

Mid and South Essex NHS Hospital Trust, which runs Basildon, Southend and Broomfield Hospitals, has been instructed to "seriously raise their game" by Essex Tory MP Mark Francois due to financial concerns. 

The MP demanded answers in Parliament about the hospitals' spending situation. It was revealed that the trust paid more than £1.25 million to accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in an attempt to balance the books. Hospital bosses insist that with this support, they have made savings of £63.1 million, which leads to better patient care. 

Last October, the hospital bosses said they planned to have a £84.6 million deficit by the end of the financial year and they would need to make savings of £91.5 million. By the end of the end of August, it should have been at £49.2 million spent but it is actually at £66.6 million – around £17 million away from where it needs to be which interim managing director for Broomfield Hospital Sarah Tedford said "gives everybody cause for concern".

Mr Francois MP says this comes against the background of "increasing complaints about the quality of service" at Southend Hospital. 

He added: "The staff at Southend Hospital work extremely hard to try and deliver the best possible healthcare to the population of southeast Essex. However, there have been endless changes in the management of the hospital, not least since the formation of the Mid and South Essex Trust several years ago. As a local MP, I am particularly disturbed to hear that some £1.25 million has been spent on consultants, trying to help the trust's senior management run its own budget – money which could have been spent on patient care. The leadership of the trust need to seriously raise their game – including speeding up the much-delayed redevelopment of the new A&E department at Southend."

The Mid and South Essex NHS Hospital Trust says, third-party support, including PwC, was brought in to help make the ways it works more efficient and to reduce the operating deficit, with this support it has made savings of £63.1million, and that working more efficiently also leads to better patient care.