Health Managers Earning Over £100,000 Doubles In Three Years

The number of health managers earning over £100,000 has doubled in the last three years, according to figures from the Department of Health.

Ulster Unionist Health Spokesperson, Jo-Anne Dobson MLA, who obtained the information, said she was outraged that while key staff and patients are being forced into 'ever intolerable' conditions, many public sector workers and administrators at the top are being remunerated over £100,000 per annum.

She said: "I was shocked to discover that the number of such highly paid administrators in the local health service has doubled in only three years. What makes this discovery most galling however is the fact that it comes at a time when funding pressures in our hospitals have dangerously compromised patient safety.

"The most recent publication of waiting times revealed that a record 373,000 people across Northern Ireland were waiting on treatment, a hospital appointment or a diagnostic test.

"Core services are now facing absolutely unacceptable pressures and it is widely accepted that the longer people with serious illnesses such as cancer are forced to wait then the more harm they come to.

"The Minister needs to get to grips with the current situation, and reverse what is now a totally unacceptable growth in senior staff salaries. Of course this should not come as a surprise; my Party revealed that the total number of staff in the Health and Social Care Board and a number of the other administrative bodies swelled by over 40% in previous years."

(CD/JP)