This is a Daily Telegraph article, which I’ve edited, dealing
with the cost of making NHS managers redundant. There are a couple of points – I
don’t think these figures for the last three years (£1.4 Billion) are up to
date – I don’t think they fully reflect the enormous cost of shutting all the
Primary care trusts.
The last paragraph says it all, really, a high proportion of
those made redundant simply walk into similar jobs somewhere else in the NHS.
Failing to plan is expensive, allowing the managers to manage
their own redundancies is even more expensive;
By Robert
Watts
25 Aug 2013
Nearly
1,000 health workers have received six-figure exit deals in the past year, with
157 managers and other senior staff receiving more than £200,000 — a 50 per
cent rise on the previous year.
Some
officials have received golden goodbyes of £600,000 as part of the Government’s
ongoing restructuring of the NHS.
Campaigners
said the figures provided further evidence that the coalition was wrong to
protect the health service from the austerity programme imposed on almost all
other areas of public spending.
Labour
blamed the heavy redundancy costs on the “unnecessary reorganisation” of the
NHS carried out by Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary.
The NHS
executives who received the largest severance packages include Nicholas Hicks,
the director of public health at Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust.
Mr Hick was
handed redundancy pay of around £600,000 when he left the trust four months
ago.
While in
opposition David Cameron pledged that the Conservatives would impose “no more
pointless and disruptive reorganisations” on health service.
Andy
Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said: “Billions have been siphoned out of
the NHS front-line to pay for an unnecessary re-structuring no-one voted for
and David Cameron personally promised would not happen.
“At a time
when the NHS needs every penny it can get, we have a Prime Minister handing out
gold-plated, six-figure pay-offs to hundreds of managers and P45s to thousands
of nurses.”
Details of
the NHS’ spending on redundancy packages are laid bare in the Department of
Health recently-published annual report.
NHS workers
typically receive redundancy of one month per full year of service, with the
amount usually capped at 24 months’ pay. However, executives sometimes manage
to negotiate better deals.
Between
April 2010 and the end of March 2013, the NHS spent a total of £1.4billion on
redundancy payments for 32,089 staff. The average package is more than £43,000.
During
2012/13, 958 health officials received payoffs of more than £100,000 — up from
628 the year before.
Last year,
the Telegraph revealed that Sir Neil McKay, the chief executive of the Midlands
and the East strategic health authority, was able to take a £1.1million lump
sum when his job was made redundant as part of the Government’s NHS reforms.
The eye-watering
figure included a £465,000 redundancy cheque and a £549,000 tax-free lump sum
from his £2.4million pension pot.
……However,
a National Audit Office (NAO) report last month found that more one in five of
NHS staff made redundant as part of the Government’s reforms had been re-employed
by the health service.”
Neil Harris
(a don’t stop till you drop production)
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