NHS ‘wasting’ money by employing equality and diversity staff at a cost of nearly £7 million

The TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA) has taken aim at the NHS by claiming it wasted over £46 million last year on 1,129 unnecessary jobs in areas such as public relations, diversity, the EU and ‘green’ staff. The money spent on these positions, the TPA claim, could have paid for 1,662 full time nurses.

The figures have been exposed by Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to every NHS organisation in the UK.

Their key findings were:

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• The NHS employed at least 826 public relations staff at an estimated cost of £34 million.
• It employed at least 165 equality and diversity staff at a cost of more than £6.8 million.
• It also employed at least 86 ‘green’ staff costing around £3.5 million.
• West and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw CSU employed 36 public relations staff at a cost of over £1.4 million.
• Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust employed 22 public relations staff at a cost of almost £1.1 million.
• Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust employed six equality and diversity staff.
• Barts Health NHS Trust employed an NHS EU Office Director, an EU Office Manager and a Senior EU Policy Manager at a combined cost of more than£210,000 .
• In 2013, six NHS employees received total remuneration of more than £100,000for an unnecessary job.
• Imperial College Healthcare, Northumbria Healthcare and Oxford University Hospitals employ a Trust Energy Manager, an Estates Energy and Sustainability Officer and an Energy Manager respectively. However these trusts were found to have significantly overpaid for their energy in previous TPA research.

The TPA has also taken aim at the following job roles:

• Mersey Care NHS Trust’s Third Sector Environmental Sustainability Lead.
• South London Healthcare Trust’s Energising for Excellence Delivery Lead.
• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust’s Car Park Sustainability Officer.
• University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust’s Administrator of Green Travel Facilities.
• Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust’s Diversity and Inclusion Lead.
• Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s Productive Leadership Facilitator.
• Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s Art Curator and Programme Manager.
• Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Equality and Diversity and Human Rights Manager.
• Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust’s Energy Management Manager.
• 5 Boroughs Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s E-Communications and Social Media Officer.

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers expect the health budget to be spent on real doctors, not spin doctors. The NHS employs far too many people in jobs that do nothing to deliver frontline patient care. It’s time for health chiefs to launch a war on waste and ensure the NHS budget is spent on on patients rather than squandered on bureaucrats.”

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