Consultants paid to ‘twiddle thumbs’

CONSULTANTS have revealed they were paid to ‘twiddle their thumbs’ as thousands of operations were cancelled this winter.

One surgeon who specialises in hip and knee replacements said he was stood around ‘largely at a loose end’.

More than 40,000 operations were cancelled this winter as hospitals tried to free-up beds for patients from A&E.

Many of those inconvenienced were in extreme pain and largely immobile, some had already been waiting more than a year. The revelations are made in a BBC documentary, to be shown tonight, exposing pressures within the health service.

Filmed in a teaching trust in Nottingham, it reveals the frustration of staff trying to do their best for patients. One consultant orthopaedic surgeon Peter James was filmed in an empty operating theatre which had ground to a halt due to cancellations. He said: ‘We’re being paid to work but [I’m] just trying to find something constructive to do.’

Asked by the film crew whether he was twiddling his thumbs, he replied ‘Yes.’ He added: ‘It’s a good chance to catch up on paperwork. It’s not just me, it’s all the theatre staff who will be underutilised.’

Consultants are among the highest earners in hospitals and their average salaries are between £75,000 and £100,000 a year. And they can charge lucrative overtime rates to catch up on cancelled operations.