“These are the kind of costs that result from endless reorganisations. Not one penny contributes to the health of patients.” claimed Andrew Lansley, shadow health secretary

The BBC obtained the figures from the 10 SHAs using the Freedom of Information Act.

Twenty-eight SHAs were set up in 2002 by the labour govt to supervise local health services in England. Their job was to coordinate care and deliver government policy.

But three years later ministers announced £250m had to be cut from red tape and four years after they were created the regional bodies were merged into 10.

Some 764 people were made redundant or took early retirement at a cost of £82.89m. That included 61 senior managers. Their redundancy packages cost an average of £358,355.

But the Liberal Democrats say the true cost of the changes must include the reorganisation of primary care trusts, which were reduced from over 300 to 152 last year.

They claim that the cost of those mergers could be as high as £60m, making a total bill for the changes of more than £140m.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said: “This is the price we’re paying for botched reforms. The government rushed into ill thought out reform…when the system didn’t work they changed it.”

From:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6961082.stm

Health Direct posted on 20 Jul 07 NHS manager’s lottery payout is nearly £1m – An NHS manager has been given a redundancy package worth almost £1 million in what was described as “a lottery win rather than a payout”.

David Johnson, the former head of a regional strategic health authority, was one of about 70 staff who left the organisation when it was abolished as part of a restructuring programme.

Robert Goodwill, the Tory MP, condemned the settlement awarded to Mr Johnson. He said: “Most people will look at this and say this is a lottery win rather than a payout.”

Mr Goodwill, who represents Scarborough and Whitby, in North Yorks, said he understood Mr Johnson was entitled to the payout under the terms of his contract. But he criticised the contract itself and the multiple reorganisations of the NHS that lead to high-profile job losses.

Mr Goodwill said: “How do I explain these payouts to people who can’t get their Alzheimer’s disease drugs, or they can’t get drugs for conditions causing blindness?”

Given the current climate of tony’s cronies- Health Direct asks if there any relationship between David Johnson the NHS lottery winner and Alan Johnson the new NHS boss?