A SHORTAGE of senior doctors is putting the lives of emergency patients at risk in York and North Yorkshire, it was claimed today.

Figures have emerged which reveal "under-staffing" in casualty departments under the control of North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire strategic health authority.

The Health Department statistics show 2.4 consultants per casualty unit in the region - well below the eight recommended by the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine (BAEM).

The figure is also below the "bare minimum" level of three demanded by the association as a worst-case scenario. Officials were unable to provide figures for each A&E department, because of "a risk that individual doctors could be identified".

The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the figures in a written Parliamentary answer, said this made it "impossible to tell the true scale of the problem".

The party's health spokesman, Dr Evan Harris, said: "The Government is obsessed with political targets and fiddling the figures.

"But what really matters to patients is getting access to quality and safe care. That means having enough senior doctors. Many casualty departments are struggling with a shortage of senior doctors, well below the ideal numbers."

He added: "Junior doctors are forced to work without supervision, and consultants are over-stretched. In some areas, the level of cover endangers patients' lives."

The areas with the fewest doctors are Dorset and Somerset, and Shropshire and Staffordshire, which had an average of 1.4 consultants per department. The best-staffed area was West Yorkshire with 5.3.

The Government has drawn up a new contract to boost consultant numbers across the NHS. It offers a pay rise of between nine per cent and 24 per cent, depending on age and experience.

Consultants are broadly happy with the pay offer, but claim it gives NHS managers too much power.

Updated: 10:34 Thursday, April 24, 2003