'Obscene' wages for top NHS staff

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 09:24

THE number of NHS Lothian employees paid more than £150,000 per year has soared in the last year, new figures show.

As part of NHS Lothian's annual accounts, it emerged 70 employees now earn at least 150,000, compared with 57 the year before. There are also 429 on a salary of more than 100,000, compared with 384 in 2008.

While health chiefs have defended pay scales, saying they were necessary to attract the best staff, patient groups described the high figures as "obscene".

As well as the 70 clinical staff who are paid in excess of 150,000, there are also three executive board members at NHS Lothian paid more than that sum.

Medical director Dr Charles Swainson, who is among the most respected holders of such a post in the UK, is paid 230,000, though he has a raft of clinical responsibilities and is heavily involved with Edinburgh University.

Chief executive James Barbour takes home up to 174,000, while chief operating officer James McCaffery receives 165,000.

The Evening News revealed in October that senior health chiefs believe the Scottish Government should release more cash to pay top executives a similar amount to those in England.

Within the local health board's 28,000 staff, there has also been a hike in those paid between 50,000 and 100,000, going up from 665 last year to 818 now. Alan Boyter, NHS Lothian's director of human resources and organisational development, said: "NHS Lothian, like other health systems across the UK, wants to attract the very best clinical professionals to care for patients, and many of the UK's leading doctors work here.

"Doctors' terms and conditions are set UK-wide. Their salary scales include a yearly incremental increase in addition to cost of living increases. This enables us to retain a quality workforce."

Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, said she did not believe such high salaries could be justified.

"Some patients are lucky to get that in a lifetime, and you've also got nurses and front line staff who are struggling to afford to pay to park at their work," she said.

"What they seem to forget is this is our money and they work for me and you.

"There should be more transparency so some of these wages can be justified, otherwise it's an insult."