NHS spends £500,000 to cover for absent boss Chief operating officer has been on full pay for two years
ACASH-STRAPPED hospital Trust is paying out more than £500,000 to cover for a top boss who has been off work for two years on full pay.
Stewart Messer has been absent from his role as chief operating officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust since May 2015.
The reason for his absence from his £120,000-a-year role has never been disclosed by the trust.
As well as paying him two years’ salary, the Trust has also paid Rab McEwan to temporarily replace him – at a cost of £200,000.
Mr McEwan has himself now been replaced as interim Chief Operating Officer by Jim O’Connell.
The Trust has refused to confirm his salary, but it is under- stood to be more than £100,000 per year. The crisis-hit Trust has previously faced a £59 million deficit which saw cost-saving cuts to services at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, where maternity, A&E, and paediatrics have been scaled down or transferred to Worcester Royal. The deficit currently stands at £28.7 million.
The Taxpayers’ Alliance hit out at the jobs shambles.
Chief Executive John O’Connell said: “When hospital staff are off long-term sick, taxpayers end up paying twice, first for the member of staff off sick and again for their interim replacement.
“The public sector sickness rates are continually higher than those in the private sector and, given the current pressures on health budgets, it is crucial that gap is reduced where possible. Every day lost costs taxpayers dear.”
Former University of Birmingham graduate Mr Messer, who lives in Shrewsbury, joined the Trust in 2012 but has not attended Trust board meetings since June 2015, sending in his apologies instead.
The Trust has refused to state the reasons for his long-running absence but it is understood lawyers from both sides are involved in mediation in a bid to end the costly situation, with Mr Messer seeking a pay-off of more than £250,000.
Meanwhile, Mr McEwan was employed on June 1, 2015, as interim chief operating officer, with duties including running the Trust when the chief executive was off.
He earned around £200,000 before himself recently being replaced by Mr O’Connell.
The astonishing situation comes as the Trust has been undergoing a huge reorganisation aimed at saving money. The Trust also faced a costly bill to fill the role of chief executive.