NHS pay rises claim half of extra £5.5bn funding
Almost half of last year's £5.5bn increase in health spending in England went on higher pay, the latest figures from the Department of Health show. This year, the department expects to incur a redundancy bill of about £400m from shrinking the number of strategic health authorities and primary care trusts.
The redundancy bill, which excludes any redundancies from National Health Service trusts shedding jobs to balance their books, is four times the projected overspend for this year. In addition, the department spent a mighty £133m on external consultants last year.
The figures come from the department's annual expenditure memorandum to the Commons health committee and show that of the extra spending last year, 56 per cent went on staff.
However, of that 47 per cent - almost £2.6bn - went on higher pay and a mere 9 per cent on extra staff.
The huge increase came as the first effects were felt of the new contracts for consultants and family doctors - which cost much more than expected - and the big pay restructuring deal "agenda for change" for most other NHS staff - which also cost more than anticipated.
This is the first time that the department has broken down the extra costs of pay between the amount devoted to pay rises and the amount spent on recruiting extra staff whose numbers have increased by 268,000 since 1999.
In recent earlier years, according to the chief executive's annual reports, between 30 and 40 per cent of the extra spending has gone on staff.
The memorandum also discloses that the redundancy costs from shrinking 28 health authorities down to 10 strategic ones and reducing the 303 primary care trusts to 150 are expected to amount to about £325m, depending on the number and age of staff who leave.
The department said earlier this month that changes to age-discrimination legislation could add £70m to that figure.
Ministers have said that the smaller number of health authorities and primary care trusts will eventually save £250m a year, but the redundancy costs coincide with the NHS having to work hard to balance its books this year.
A small surplus that was projected three months into the financial year has become a projected deficit of £94m on the six-month figures, although Patricia Hewitt, health secretary, has said that she is confident that the NHS as a whole will break even this year.
Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said the cost of external consultants and the size of the redundancy bill "reflects Labour's mismanagement of the NHS. It is clear that a lot of the additional growth money this year will be lost".
More information at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fd79cafe-7aa8-11db-8838-0000779e2340.html
The redundancy bill, which excludes any redundancies from National Health Service trusts shedding jobs to balance their books, is four times the projected overspend for this year. In addition, the department spent a mighty £133m on external consultants last year.
The figures come from the department's annual expenditure memorandum to the Commons health committee and show that of the extra spending last year, 56 per cent went on staff.
However, of that 47 per cent - almost £2.6bn - went on higher pay and a mere 9 per cent on extra staff.
The huge increase came as the first effects were felt of the new contracts for consultants and family doctors - which cost much more than expected - and the big pay restructuring deal "agenda for change" for most other NHS staff - which also cost more than anticipated.
This is the first time that the department has broken down the extra costs of pay between the amount devoted to pay rises and the amount spent on recruiting extra staff whose numbers have increased by 268,000 since 1999.
In recent earlier years, according to the chief executive's annual reports, between 30 and 40 per cent of the extra spending has gone on staff.
The memorandum also discloses that the redundancy costs from shrinking 28 health authorities down to 10 strategic ones and reducing the 303 primary care trusts to 150 are expected to amount to about £325m, depending on the number and age of staff who leave.
The department said earlier this month that changes to age-discrimination legislation could add £70m to that figure.
Ministers have said that the smaller number of health authorities and primary care trusts will eventually save £250m a year, but the redundancy costs coincide with the NHS having to work hard to balance its books this year.
A small surplus that was projected three months into the financial year has become a projected deficit of £94m on the six-month figures, although Patricia Hewitt, health secretary, has said that she is confident that the NHS as a whole will break even this year.
Andrew Lansley, the Conservative health spokesman, said the cost of external consultants and the size of the redundancy bill "reflects Labour's mismanagement of the NHS. It is clear that a lot of the additional growth money this year will be lost".
More information at:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/fd79cafe-7aa8-11db-8838-0000779e2340.html
posted by Dr Search- Principal Consultant at the Search Clinic at
8:35 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home