Fury over £550,000 earned by one locum doctor in just a year
A LOCUM doctor was paid more than half a million pounds for a year’s work by a cash-strapped health board.
As the NHS struggles to meet savings targets, the temporary medic was paid between £500,000 and £550,000 a year – five times a normal consultant’s salary.
The locum consultant has been continuously employed since 2016, at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, which is already under scrutiny from Scotland’s public spending watchdog.
The data was obtained by a NHS whistleblower.
Last night, critics said taxpayers would question whether it represented ‘value for money’.
Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information act by stroke specialist Dr Sukhomoy Das show that the locum cost for NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s elderly medicine and stroke service in 2017-18 and 2018-19 is vastly higher than any other health board, at £2.96million.
NHS spending on locums in this speciality ranges from zero at NHS Fife and NHS Highland, to £1.17million at NHS Lanarkshire.
Dr Das, 54, who worked at NHS Ayrshire and Arran from 2000 to 2009, previously raised safety concerns in 2006 in relation to agency locums who he said lacked stroke training and were misdiagnosing patients.
He said he was subsequently bullied and passed over for promotion as a result and eventually quit his job.
Dr Das, who lives in Ochiltree, Ayrshire, and works in Dundee during the week, said he could have been doing the job of the locum for a fraction of the cost but believes he has been ‘blacklisted’ as a whistleblower.
He added: ‘I was a troublemaker. I challenged them before and they didn’t want me back.
‘But by victimising me, they are really victimising the taxpayer – and patients.’
Audit Scotland has warned the NHS in Scotland – which spent £100million in total on agency doctors in 2017-18 – is heading for a crunch point because of rising demand and tight budgets and has called for fundamental change.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran needed £23million in 2017-18 in Scottish Government loans and Audit Scotland has expressed reservations about its ability to balance its books.
The Board’s Freedom of Information response to Dr Das on the highest pay to a locum in the elderly and stroke service states: ‘A consultant earned between £500,000 and £550,000 over a one-year period.’
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Miles Briggs said: ‘This clearly shows the Scottish Government’s mismanagement of the NHS workforce and the fact that we are not training enough doctors. Taxpayers will be asking what value for money we are getting.’
Patricia Leiser, NHS Ayrshire and Arran’s human resources director, said it had tried to recruit permanent staff at home and abroad.
She added: ‘We have taken decisions to secure locum doctors with the relevant knowledge and expertise required to ensure that we continue to provide a safe and effective Care of the Elderly Service to the citizens of Ayrshire and Arran.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Spending on agency medical staff in NHS Ayrshire and Arran has decreased by 12.5 per cent in the last financial year, and in 2018-19 medical agency spend represented less than 1 per cent of their overall budget.
‘We are continuing to drive down the use of agencies.
‘We have been clear with boards that they should always prioritise recruitment of permanent staff to vacant posts and only use agency as a last resort when temporary staff are required.’
‘Victimising the taxpayer’