Disgraced NHS chief was handed extra £30k
NHS bosses inflated the payoff of a disgraced chief executive by more than £30,000 after she threatened to make age and sex discrimination claims against them.
Lesley McLay was entitled to three months’ pay after stepping down amid a string of financial scandals at NHS Tayside.
But it emerged yesterday that the health board extended her notice period to six months after her lawyers warned that she may launch legal action. Mrs McLay earned £125,000 a year while NHS Tayside ran up debts of £45million.
The Scottish Government was forced to intervene in the running of the board last year after it emerged charity cash had been siphoned off to fund new technology.
Details of Mrs McLay’s payoff were disclosed yesterday as Holyrood’s audit committee questioned NHS Tayside officials.
MSPs heard that Mrs McLay left the health board last April after a period of sick leave and her lawyers negotiated a settlement.
Her £90,000 deal included a payment of more than £64,000, which equated to six months’ notice.
Her contract only had a notice period of three months, awarding her £32,000 to which she was not contractually entitled.
Hazel Craik, of the Central Legal Office for the NHS in Scotland, told the committee Mrs McLay’s solicitors had warned NHS Tayside she could bring sex or age discrimination claims against them.
Miss Craik added: ‘My view was that for the additional money that was being sought, it was a way of bringing certainty and conclusion to matters.’
John Brown, chairman of NHS Tayside, said the board had to ‘balance the cost’ of agreeing a payout to Mrs McLay against the potential cost of her taking legal action.
The estimated costs of any legal claim, including fighting it, could have been up to £110,000.
Audit committee convener Jenny Marra said Mrs McLay had presided ‘over a board in financial chaos’ and was ‘way behind’ schedule in meeting health service targets.
Nationalist MSP Alex Neil, a former health secretary, described the settlement as ‘absurd’.
‘Certainty and conclusion’