NHS pays consultant £375,000 for overtime

Biggest-ever yearly bill as trusts come under more pressure to cover for lack of specialist staff

A DOCTOR made £375,000 in overtime pay in a single year, it has emerged, as figures reveal that NHS spending on premium-rate pay increased by a third in the last two years. A shortage of spe- cialist staff is allowing consultants regularly to charge £600 in overtime for a four-hour shift, equivalent to four times what they get normally, while some are receiving as much as £1,000.

Two out of three hospital trusts paid at least one consultant more than £50,000 last year, the data shows, with a quarter paying at least one doctor £100,000 or more.

The unnamed consultant at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who took home the £375,000 in addition to salary, is be- lieved to have earned more from overtime than any doctor in NHS history.

He was followed in 2015-16 by a consultant in Kent who earned £205,408, and another in Blackpool who made £183,204. The average amount paid in overtime to consultants last year was roughly £13,300, while the average basic salary for doctors of that grade is £89,000.

Hospital bosses responsible for high overtime pay have argued that they would not be able to cover gaps in the rota without premium overtime deals. However, leaders of trusts where pay has been kept under control have branded the pay packets indefensible.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust stopped paying premium rates in 2010.

Andrew Foster, the chief executive, said: “I don’t think it is very defensible to pay a huge premium to one group of staff and not to other groups of staff. No other member of staff gets triple pay for doing extra shifts.”

The doctors most likely to get highcost overtime are radiologists, sur- geons, urologists anaesthetists and gastroenterologists, the data from 114 of 186 trusts and health boards show.

Overall these groups spent £168 million on overtime pay in 2015-16, compared with £125 million in 2013-14.

Danny Mortimer, Chief Executive of NHS Employers, told BBC Radio Four’s Today show that a more consistent system was needed. “We don’t believe that in every circumstance these payments are generated by shortages,” he said. “What we need is a system that can be applied fairly across all doctors. We want to move to a situation where there is a standardised base line nationally for all doctors.”

The Department of Health said there would be 11,000 more NHS doctors by 2020. A spokesman said the Government was working with the British Medical Association to replace the evening and weekend “opt-out” clause in the existing consultant contracts, which will “promise patients urgent and emergency care of a consistently high standard” across the week while “reducing big overtime bills”.