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Forty six NHS managers earn double the average consultant salary

BMJ 2011; 342 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.d2840 (Published 05 May 2011) Cite this as: BMJ 2011;342:d2840
  1. Helen Jaques, news reporter
  1. 1BMJ Careers
  1. hjaques{at}bmj.com

Forty six NHS managers earned more than £200 000 a year in 2009-10, nearly twice the average amount earned by hospital consultants in the same period, an investigation by the Daily Telegraph has found.

The highest earners were jointly David Bennett, interim chief executive of Monitor between March 2010 and February 2011, and Neil Lloyd, chief executive of NHS Professionals, both of whom earned £282 500 including benefits in the financial year ending March 2010, more than double the average consultant salary of £113 000 in the same period.

The list of NHS managers in England with an annual salary of more than £200 000 included 21 foundation trust chief executives, nine hospital chief executives, and seven heads of strategic health authorities.

David Nicholson, chief executive of the NHS, came 29th on the list with a salary of £212 500 a year, whereas former chief medical officer for England Liam Donaldson was 34th, taking home £207 500 annually.

In 2009-10 the average annual salary for a hospital consultant in England was £121 200 for those on the new contract and £104 675 for those on the old contract. In the same period hospital chief executives took home at least a third more than consultants—the average hospital trust chief executive earned £158 800 a year and the average foundation trust chief executive received £164 500.

A total of 15% of NHS hospital directors and 17% of foundation trust directors got a pay rise in double figures during 2009-2010. Conversely, pay for consultants actually dropped during 2009-10.

The average pay rise for NHS board members excluding doctors was 4.5% in 2009-10, despite government advice that overall pay increases for NHS senior managers should be limited to 1.5%.

In March the independent review of fair pay in the public sector, led by Will Hutton, recommended that senior public servants’ pay should be more strongly linked to their performance through a system of “earn back” pay, but stopped short of recommending a “20 to 1” public sector pay multiple, whereby senior managers would not be allowed to earn more than 20 times the salary of the lowest paid member of staff (BMJ Careers 16 March 2011, http://bit.ly/iTBPLm).