Overpaid NHS Mangers - can anyone be worth £600,000 a year?

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Quite separately the NHS itself has released a study which indicates that NHS mangers are using outdated and inefficient methods which indicates that these payments are unjustified.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
 

Redundancy costs.

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)

Home:  helpmesortoutthenhs.blogspot.com