I’ve been monitoring the huge amounts of money paid to NHS
Managers in past articles; here is another Daily Telegraph investigation.
Of course what would be interesting would be to compare the
biggest salaries with the quality of treatment in the NHS Trust – I doubt there
is any benefit from overpaying managers.
Quite separately the NHS itself has released a study which
indicates that NHS mangers are using outdated and inefficient methods which
indicates that these payments are unjustified.
Far worse; failure is never punished – they just leave and
grab another NHS job somewhere else.
Of course….we are paying for all this.
Oh and care workers who do the real work are earning between
one twentieth and one fortieth of these fat cat salaries.
Telegraph.co.uk
Tuesday 30
December 2014
The rise of
the £300,000 NHS fatcats
Investigation
discloses doubling in number of NHS managers being paid equivalent of at least
£300,000 a year, with some on as much as £620,000 annually
NHS trusts
said the payments were justified to secure “high calibre” expertise at short
notice.
By Laura Donnelly, Health Editor
10:00PM GMT
27 Dec 2015
The number
of NHS managers being paid the equivalent of more than £300,000 a year has
doubled in just 12 months, it can be disclosed.
In some
cases, cash-strapped health trusts are hiring temporary executives for hundreds
of thousands of pounds, an investigation by The Telegraph has found.
Patients’
groups said the “exorbitant” rates could not be justified, and nursing leaders
said the sums were a “kick in the teeth” for junior staff who were refused a
one per cent pay rise.
NHS board
reports indicate that during 2013-14, 44 “interim” executives were employed on
rates of £1,000 a day — the equivalent of £228,000 a year — compared with 24
the year before.
There was
an even sharper increase at the top end of the scale. In the last financial
year, 22 executives were paid the equivalent of at least £300,000 a year —
compared with 11 the year before and just four in 2010-11. In most cases, the
payments were not made directly to the managers, but via agencies, which were
able to take a share.
Meanwhile,
NHS finances spiralled out of control, with trusts running up a combined
deficit of £500 million, before the Government announced plans to spend an
extra £2 billion next year on the NHS.
Rotherham
Foundation Trust paid the equivalent of £621,000 a year for the services of
Michael Morgan as chief executive. Mr Morgan worked for Rotherham trust for 10
months, until last November.
Accounts
for eight of the months show payments of £380,000 plus expenses — the equivalent
of £621,000 over 12 months, a sum that would cover the salaries of 28 nurses.
NHS trusts
said the payments were justified to secure “high calibre” expertise at short
notice.
But the
investigation found some managers stayed in post for more than a year, on rates
worth far more than the Prime Minister’s £142,500 salary.
Peter Reading
was paid £405,000 to be chief executive of Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals
Foundation trust. He left in June, after almost two and a half years. Several
of the organisations which hired executives at high rates faced major problems.
Colchester
Hospitals foundation trust, which last month told patients to keep away from
A & E unless their condition was life-threatening, hired two temporary executives,
Kim Hodgson and Evelyn Barker, on rates of £387,000 a year during 2013-14.
Medway foundation
trust, recently named as having one of the worst A & Es in the country
according to patient surveys, paid Nigel Beverley rates of £1,740 a day until
he left just before an inspection found A & E in a “state of crisis”.
Some
individuals saw their pay rates soar. In 2010, Ian Miller was the highest paid
NHS manager in the England, earning £310,000 for nine months’ work for the South
East Coast Strategic Health Authority in 2009-10 — which equates to £400,000 a
year.
Last year
he was paid £251,000 for five months’ work as director of finance at Maidstone
and Tunbridge Wells — the equivalent of £602,000 a year.
In 2012,
the NHS said senior managers should not be employed “off payroll” — often
through an agency — except in exceptional circumstances that should never last
more than six months. But the 10 highest earners were all employed off payroll,
in some cases through companies they owned or controlled, and three stayed more
than six months.
The
payments included VAT, and there is no suggestion that any individuals were using
their off-payroll status to avoid paying tax or national insurance contributions.
Others
moved from trust to trust, often commanding the same high rates while keeping
within the “six-month” rule.
Although
trusts do not have to pay national insurance and pension contributions for
managers who are off payroll, in some cases they have paid significant
expenses.
Rotherham
paid £7,000 a month to cover the expenses of Mr Morgan and two colleagues paid
via a consultancy firm, amounting to an extra £84,000 a year between the three.
Katherine
Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said the spending was
“unacceptable.” She added: “Investment is urgently needed on the front line.”
Dr Peter
Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing said: “For sums this
large to be spent instead on paying temporary managers is a kick in the teeth
to nurses and a blow to patient care.
Rotherham
trust said the majority of those it hired on an interim basis, including Mr
Morgan, were no longer working for the organisation.
A spokesman
added: “The majority of board members who were on the Board 18 months ago when
the contract was awarded, are no longer working for the trust; this includes
the chief executive and chairman.”
Maidstone
and Tunbridge Wells said the sums paid to Maxentius specialist financial
support, which provided Mr Miller’s services, “provided independent financial expertise
that was essential in helping the Trust achieve £23.5 million in efficiency
savings last year without impacting on patient care”.
Peterborough
and Stamford Hospitals said payments for Dr Reading’s services did not include
any provision for pension, holiday pay or sick pay adding that the trust was
not able to recruit a permanent candidate at the time.
Colchester
Hospital foundation trust, which has been in special measures since October
2013, said its exceptional circumstances required “outstanding leaders with the
right skills and experience.”
Monitor,
the regulator for foundation trusts, which was responsible for the appointments
to Medway, said trusts with failing leadership sometimes needed to appoint
senior staff on an interim basis.
The
paychecks:
Michael
Morgan chief executive, Rotherham Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £380,000 plus expenses to work 7 months, 3 weeks
Annual
equivalent: £621,000 including expenses
Ian Miller,
director of finance, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £251,000 to work 5 months
Annual
equivalent: £602,000
Peter
Reading, chief executive, Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £405,000 to work all year
Antony
Sumara, chief executive, Royal Bolton Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £105,000 to work 12 weeks
Annual
equivalent: £399,000
Nigel
Beverley, chief executive, Medway Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £40,000 to work 7 weeks - trust said he was on daily
rates of
£1,740
Annual
equivalent: £397,000
Kim
Hodgson, chief executive, Colchester Hospitals Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £95,000 to work 11 weeks
Annual
equivalent: £387,000
Evelyn
Barker, chief operating officer, Colchester Hospitals Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £95,000 to work 11 weeks
Annual
equivalent: £387,000
Jon Scott,
chief operating officer, Kettering General Hospital Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £135,000 to work 4 months, 1 week
Annual
equivalent: £383,000
Colin
Gentile, director of finance, Dartford and Gravesham Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £185,000 to work 6 months
Annual
equivalent: £370,000
Bill Boa,
interim director of finance, Burton Hospitals Foundation Trust
Payment
during 2013/14: £134,000 to work 6 months
Annual
equivalent: £368,000
All figures
taken from trusts’ annual reports and other documents.
Rotherham Foundation
Trust paid an additional £7K a month for expenses for Mr Morgan and two
colleagues: a third share of this has been included in calculations of his yearly
cost to the trust.
Neil Harris(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutthenhs.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment