€220K A YEAR HS E BOSS EARNS €970 K

Manager paid Four times salary

A MANAGER in the HSE was paid almost €1million last year – more than four times their salary.

Accounts show the senior clinical staff member’s pay of between €970,000 and €980,000 incorporated backdated arrears of wages since 2010.

When broken down this includes basic salary, allowance, overtime, night duty, weekend and on calls.

A note in the HSE accounts states the manager’s actual employee benefits in 2017 without any arrears would have put them in the €210,000 to €220,000 band. The pay enjoyed by the senior clinical manager was almost twice that of the next top earner who received between €500,000 and €510,000.

A further 12 staff members received pay between €300,000 and €500,000.

In total, 2,554 staff members at the HSE last year received pay of more than €100,000 compared to 2,243 in 2016.

Most of the high earners at the HSE are medical consultants – though no breakdown is provided in the accounts between consultants and others.

The breakdown shows 25 staff were paid between €250,000 and €300,000, 250 got between €200,000 and €250,000 and 2,265 earned between €100,000 and €200,000.

The HSE’S total wage bill last year rose by 4.8% from €5.1billion to €5.35billion while employee numbers increased from 110,258 to 114,058

Pay to key management personnel at the HSE – made up of the Directorate – last year totalled €1.152million – down from the €1.23million paid out in 2016. The accounts also reveal the spend on lump sum pension payments to those retiring last year was €115.64million – up 6.7% on 2016.

The spend on agency staff rose 8.5% to €301million while the HSE’S overtime bill went up 10% to €164million. The accounts show the spend on legal and professional fees soared 42% to €85million last year.

Number of staff who earned between €200k and €300k last year