West Middlesex Hospital has defended its decision not to appoint a new chief executive to get its finances back on track after a damning report criticised its management.

Jacqueline Docherty took over as interim chief executive in February when the former incumbent Tara Donnelly stepped down after eight patients were left waiting more than 12 hours for a bed.

An Audit Commision report last week named West Middlesex as one of the worst financially managed hospitals in the country and hsaid it had failed to meet minimum standards.

But the hospital said it had no plans to change any of the management, or replace Dame Jacqueline with a permanent chief executive.

A spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Alliance said: “It’s absolutely shocking that the trust is refusing to take action on what are clearly huge problems in financial management, which may mean taxpayers’ money is being squandered.

“The trust needs to take any action to make sure taxpayers get the best value for money. It cannot be acceptable for a public organisation, responsible for effectively managing ordinary families’ money, to not do this as carefully as possible.”

A spokesman for the hospital said: “There is no immediate plans for a permanent replacement. Jacqueline has been here for quite some time and has been doing a great job here.

“The report that came out last week was just looking at financial performance, and we are not alone in that situation. We are one of 11 trusts in London classed as financially challenged.”

He added: “A lot of it was based on our historic deficit, and looking at our financial situation this year, we have been able to reduce our deficit month on month.”

He said an increase in the number of patients had put further pressure on finances, but other departments such as maternity care had been performing well.

Dame Jacqueline joined West Mid from King’s College Hospital, where she was deputy chief executive and director of operations.