Cost of Scots NHS chiefs trebles in three years

THE cost of employing Scotland's senior NHS managers has more than tripled in the last three years, leaving the Scottish health service with a bill of almost £105 million.

The number of non-clinical staff being paid more than 50,000 soared from just over 600 to nearly 1,800 in three years. Salaries for the "army of NHS managers" also rocketed from nearly 34.9 million to more than 104 million between 2007 and 2010.

The figures were revealed during First Minister's question time yesterday when Alex Salmond was criticised by Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott for allowing the number of non-clinicians earning more than 50,000 to treble during his time in power.

Health board bosses insisted that the increases were not due to the creation of more well-paid posts, but because of "incremental increases in staff pay" and national salary agreements.

But Margaret Watt, chairwoman of the Scotland Patients Association, claimed that the remuneration packages handed to health bosses were "obscene". The row about the pay for senior NHS staff comes as public sector pay is being squeezed, with the Scottish Government facing a reduction of almost 3 billion over the next four years.

Finance secretary John Swinney will make a budget statement next month in response to last week's Comprehensive Spending Review from the UK Government.

The latest figures, revealed in the accounts of health boards, showed that NHS Grampian increased its number of senior managers earning over 50,000 by nearly 390 per cent from 81 to 394 during the three-year period.

The health board also increased its wage bill for senior managers from 4.5 million to 23.8 million over the same timescale.

Greater Glasgow and Clyde had Scotland's highest annual pay bill for managers at just over 28 million - up from 10.6 million three years ago - while the number of senior staff jumped from 182 to 498 during this period.

Lothian Health Board had a bill of 7.6 million for 127 senior staff in 2010, up from 3.9 million and 68 staff three years ago. There was also a big increase in the number of clinical senior managers earning more than 50,000 in Tayside, where the numbers increased from 83 to 222, while the salary bill soared from nearly 4.7 million to more than 13.2 million.

The number of managers in the salary bracket of more than 50,000 in NHS Ayrshire and Arran went from 30 to 107 during the three-year period, while the pay bill increased from more than 1.6 million to 6 million.

Lib Dem leader Mr Scott said the number of NHS senior managers earning more than 50,000 had trebled.

Speaking during yesterday's First Minister's Questions, he said: "Alex Salmond's army of NHS managers earning more than 50,000 a year now number 1,790. Pay is three time higher under the SNP and the number of managers has trebled.How has all that happened?

"The SNP has promised to cut senior managers in the health service over the next four years.

"But the First Minister couldn't explain why senior non-clinician pay has increased so dramatically since that sunny day in 2007 when he became First Minister."

However, the First Minister said that there are "far more" people working in the health service than there were in 2007.

Mr Salmond said: "The bulk of the increase is in clinical staff - in nurses, in doctors and dentists - compared with the deplorable position that was left by the last Liberal/Labour administration."

But Patients Association chairwoman Ms Watt said: "I know of patients who can't even afford to pay for food for themselves and who end up in hospital with malnutrition, so to hear about these excessive pay awards is very upsetting.

"It's absolutely obscene to have managers getting pay like this at a time when the NHS is being starved of much-needed funding. We should get rid of these excessive salaries and put the money into paying for more hospital beds to get waiting lists down and to ensure more people get the medical help they need."

Dave Watson, of Unison, said: "Now isn't the time to be recruiting large numbers of managers."

Meanwhile, the organisation representing Scottish medics, the BMA, called for NHS decisions to be based on "patient need".

A BMA Scotland spokesman said: "We are in no doubt that managers can add value in the NHS; however, designing services and decisions regarding direct patient care should ultimately be made by clinicians."

Health boards defended the numbers of non-clinical staff paid more than 50,000. An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: "The recent figures relate in part to the number of employees who received one-off arrears of pay under the national review of pay and terms and conditions."

Alan Boyter, director of human resources at NHS Lothian, said: "These figures are largely due to incremental increases in staff pay, and the introduction of nationally agreed pay-scales."

An NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde spokesman said: "Staff in this remuneration group have increased as a result of a significant number of individuals reaching the 50,000 point on their pay spines."

Mark Adderley, director of people and organisation development at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said that "all roles are governed by national agreements and rates of pay".

An NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: "Many of these non-clinicians in Tayside are front-line senior nurses, pharmacists, scientists, allied health professionals, radiologists and other specialist posts."