STAFF at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital will pause for a few minutes on Monday to pay tribute to an outstanding and popular colleague who has died.

Due to Covid restrictions they will be unable to join Dr Cliff Mann's family at his funeral at St Mary Magdalene Church on Monday, followed by a committal at Taunton Deane Crematorium.

Instead, the cortege will be driven around the hospital campus ahead of the service to allow his colleagues to pay their respects.

Staff will respect social distancing measures and off duty NHS workers are asked not to attend Musgrove due to the current coronavirus measures.

A live webcast of the funeral will be available at fb.me/e/3tTVEib4h

Donations in Dr Mann's memory can be made to the Health Improvement Project Zanzibar via drcliffordmann,muchloved.com or Quantock Funeral Services, 69 Staplegrove Road, Taunton TA1 1DG.

Dr Mann, who died on February 20 aged 58, leaves a widow, Rhona, and daughters Rebecca and Grace.

He was a consultant in emergency medicine at Musgrove for more than 20 years and also served as NHS national clinical advisor for accident and emergency care and joined NHS England and NHS Improvement in 2016 following several years as president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine.

During his time in senior national leadership roles at NHS England and NHS Improvement, Dr Mann, who had the OBE, passionately worked to improve the treatment of all patients who need urgent and emergency care.

Dr Mann played a key role in the development of new clinical standards for urgent and emergency care currently part of a consultation by NHS England.

He spearheaded the rollout of Same Day Emergency Care – a new model of urgent care which continues to enable thousands of patients to get the right tests and treatments quickly - reducing the need for people to be admitted to hospital.

His colleague Dr Jason Louis said: "Cliff was a very prominent figure in emergency medicine. Working in a moderately-sized centre like Taunton that was unusual.

"He was a really great leader for our specialty, representing all the consultants and trainees across the country in emergency medicine. He was a fantastic colleague.

"He often would be the person who colleagues turned to for support on a day to day basis."