NHS FAT CAT GRAVY TRAIN
As patients wait weeks for treatment in failing hospitals, Scotland’s health chiefs cash in with bumper pay deals
THE shocking scale of fat cat pay in Scotland’s cashstrapped NHS is exposed today. Following one of the most detailed audits of health service earnings ever, it can be revealed how bosses are cashing in on massive salaries and bonuses while presiding over failing hospitals.
new figures reveal that one senior official enjoyed earnings of £177,500 last year – about £34,000 more than Prime Minister Theresa May.
Others are earning between £120,000 and £150,000 despite widespread staff shortages, an increase in waiting times and complaints of inedible hospital food.
The findings emerged in a survey which found Scottish Nhs bosses are among the best-paid in the UK, dominating a damning league table of health Service fat cats.
Last night, Scottish Tory health spokesman Donald Cameron said there was a need for the ‘very best people at the top of our Nhs boards’ which meant there had to be ‘competitive wages’.
But he added: ‘Patients will be keen that these salaries don’t spin out of control, especially when budgets are tight and hospitals are struggling to cope.’
The figures were contained in a survey
by the Tax Payers’ Alliance (TPA) called the ‘nanny state rich list’. They showed that Dr Drew Walker, NHS Tayside director of public health, earned £177,500 in 2014-15, excluding pension contributions.
Annual accounts for the health board show that in the previous year he had earned between £170,000 and £175,000.
Dr Walker’s salary – the fourth highest in the Taxpayers’ Alliance UK-wide NHS pay table – is boosted by payments under a merit award scheme. He has previously defended the health board after patients complained about the poor quality of food.
Last night NHS Tayside director of human resources George Doherty said the ‘grading and salaries applied to posts across NHS Tayside is in accordance with nationally determined processes, and at the direction of the Scottish Government’.
Dr Linda de Caestecker, director of public health at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, earned £155,960 in 2014-15, up from £154,858 the previous year. She has been criticised for suggesting that middle-class families must accept lower standards of NHS care than drug addicts and people from deprived areas.
A health board spokesman said Dr de Caestecker was a ‘medical consultant which accounts for the largest part of her salary which is set as part of a nationally agreed consultant contract’.
Dr Eddie Coyle, now retired, earned £152,500 in 2014-15 as director of public health at NHS Fife. Dr Harpreet Kohli, public director at NHS Lanarkshire, also earned £152,500.
A board spokesman said: ‘All staff in NHS Lanarkshire are remunerated in accordance with national terms and conditions.’ NHS Shetland’s now-retired public health boss Sarah Taylor earned £147,500. Graham Foster, in the same role at NHS Forth Valley, earned £142,500 while Professor Alison McCallum earned between £115,000 and £120,000. Dr Louise Wilson at NHS Orkney earned £107,500.
Last night Dr Jean Turner, of the Scotland Patients’ Association, said some of the highest earners were doing complex and responsible jobs which demanded higher pay – but it was ‘ridiculous’ that some were outearning Mrs May. She said: ‘Patients want the best care – that’s their priority – but if you are in hospital, getting food that isn’t nutritious, or if you’re waiting months for urgent treatment – you would be very annoyed to find out about these high salaries.’
Jonathan Isaby, TPA chief executive, said: ‘The pernicious influence of the public health lobby has spread ever wider in recent years, with health quangocrats pushing for more regulations and higher taxes that hit families and businesses.
‘Not only do the patronising diktats and demands of these unaccountable quangos raise household bills, but taxpayers are also paying for the enormous remuneration packages of hundreds of meddling busybodies, many of whom have obscure job titles.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Remuneration for members in bodies covered by public sector pay policy is carefully controlled and has been subject to significant constraint, in line with other parts of the public sector, through successive pay policies in recent years.’
It emerged earlier this year that Scottish hospitals have missed cancer treatment targets amid a shortage of surgeons, with patients having to wait longer than 62 days from referral to treatment.