NHS in Scotland ‘wastes’ millions on diversity roles

SCOTLAND’S crisis-hit NHS has been accused of wasting millions on “flimflam and mumbo-jumbo” after its huge bill for diversity tsars was revealed.

The health service is spending more than £2.3 million per year on 50 workers in dedicated equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) roles across Scotland, with the headcount rising by more than 40 per cent in five years.

Spending on the positions has dramatically expanded at the same time that waiting lists have soared to record levels and cash for other areas of the health service has been slashed.

Last week, it emerged that all significant NHS Scotland building projects were to be put on hold for at least two years because of cash shortages, placing doubts over the future of new national treatment centres which had been promised to tackle treatment backlogs.

Stephen Kerr, the Scottish Tory MSP, labelled the spending “bonkers” and urged SNP ministers to instead order health boards to focus on patients.

“The thousands of people in Scotland waiting to see someone in a hospital will be despairing at the priorities of the SNP Government,” Mr Kerr said. “They are wasting millions on flim-flam and mumbo-jumbo rather than focussing 100 per cent of their energy and resources on front-line services.”

NHS chiefs in England are being ordered to cut back on the “woke” roles and instead divert cash to front lines.

The SNP Government, however, backed the spending, claiming that “fostering an inclusive culture” would benefit patients and staff.

The number of EDI staff has expanded to 50 across the country, figures obtained by The Telegraph show, up from 35 in 2019. Some of the most senior NHS equality tsars earn salaries in excess of £80,000 per year.

Separately, the Scottish Government spends more than £4 million a year on EDI civil servants, including three directors on annual salaries of £117,800.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “There is no place for discrimination of any kind in the NHS, or in Scottish society as a whole ... fostering an inclusive culture in the NHS and supporting people from all backgrounds is key to improving patient care and staff experience.”