NHS trust paid millions to boss’s former colleagues
AN NHS trust paid companies linked to its boss millions of pounds in taxpayers’ money.
One firm, Talent Works, received more than £5million, despite its contract being worth only £300,000.
Another, Consilium Partners, was handed £600,000 over five years – for work that was never put out to tender. The trust claims the company was paid for ad hoc services during this time.
Both firms are owned by former colleagues of Katrina Percy, chief executive of the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
The mental health trust has been under fire since an NHS England inquiry was set up into its failure to investigate hundreds of unexplained patient deaths. A Care Quality Commission report into the trust’s problems, published in April this year, found poor leadership and governance were to blame. This was despite £5million being spent on Talent Works’ services since 2011 – to develop ‘bespoke leadership development programmes’, according to the trust.
Miss Percy, who became chief executive of the trust in 2011, has faced heavy criticism of her leadership and calls to resign, but has refused to do so.
Her relationships with two former associates – Chris Martin, founder of Talent Works, and Paul Grey, a partner at Consilium – are being scrutinised.
Miss Percy had worked with Mr Martin since 2006, initially as chief operating officer at Surrey and Sussex Hospitals.
Mr Grey – whose firm has been providing Southern Health with services for the past five years – had worked with her when she was director of strategy at Hampshire Community Health Care.
Roy Lilley, a former chairman of an NHS health trust and now a health policy expert, criticised the trust’s practices and labelled its overspend on contracts as ‘extraordinary’.
‘It really doesn’t look good, and it casts a deep shadow over the people involved and the way in which the trust has been run by the board,’ he said.
‘I think the finance director and the audit committee in the trust should have said enough is enough. Of course now the whole situation has been made worse, now that it has been revealed that the chief executive of the trust may have had some kind of a friendship or relationship with the principle provider of the services.’
Mr Lilley added: ‘It is not right when you go from a quarter of a million to five million pounds. But it’s done, nobody is going to repay the money and I suspect the trust will issue a statement saying “we’ve done nothing wrong”.
‘I expect the chief executive will say we need to learn lessons and move on. That’s what always happens in these cases … nobody is going to give the money back.’
A Southern Health spokesman said: ‘The individuals running both these companies had worked with Katrina Percy, in a professional capacity when she was employed by other NHS organisations.
‘This is not unusual given the specialist services they provide to the NHS. We refute in the strongest possible manner any suggestion that these relationships were anything other than professional.
‘ The trust takes its financial responsibilities very seriously, and will continue to invest in additional services and support where it is believed there is a clear benefit to our staff and patients.’
‘Casts a deep shadow’