Health boss gets more £££s than PM Gordon (From Echo)

Health boss gets more £££s than PM Gordon

12:00pm Monday 7th December 2009 in News By Adam Gaudry

A HEALTH chief gets paid more than Prime Minister Gordon Brown, after being given a whopping 16 per cent pay rise.

Dr Patrick Geoghegan OBE, chief executive of South Essex Partnership NHS Trust, earned £200,000 in 2008/09, a huge rise from his £172,500 the previous year.

By comparison, the Prime Minister earned £194,250 in 2008/09 and £189,994 in 2007/09, a rise of just 2.2 per cent.

The Public Sector Rich List 2009 has been published by the Taxpayers’ Alliance, and the campaign group has called for an end to the huge salaries, which it claims is flying in the face of the nationwide recession.

John O’Connell, policy analyst at the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Executive pay in the public sector is completely divorced from the reality of Britain’s fiscal crisis.

“Taxpayers want genuine transparency, accountability and restraint in setting top public sector pay.”

As well as Dr Geoghegan’s huge salary, it was also revealed Dr Stephen Morgan, medical director for the trust that runs Basildon Hospital, was paid £205,000 in 2008/09, after being paid £195,000 the previous 12 months.

Pat Trinnaman, director of communications at the trust that runs Basildon Hospital, said: “Medical directors are practising senior consultants who take on board the role of leading on medical matters in addition to their direct patient care role.

“They therefore receive a supplement for their responsibilities and duties as medical director alongside their salary as consultant.”

She added the medical director’s salary as consultant was in line with nationally agreed levels, and included on-call and out-of-hours duties.

Grahame Tosh, medical director of the trust that runs Southend Hospital, was paid £167,500 in 2008/09, an increase from the £147,500 the previous year.

Peter Little, chairman of the remuneration committee for Southend Hospital, said its salaries were appropriate to those offered at other trusts.

He said: “The salary paid to the trust’s medical director had been below those for other comparable posts. Such post holders fill both a clinical and an executive management role.

“Therefore to attract and retain these important individuals who enable trusts to improve patient services, salaries tend to be higher than others.”

John Gilham, chief executive of the Southend Hospital trust, was paid £162,500 in 2008/09 a rise from £147,500.

Pam Court, chief executive of the South West Essex NHS trust, which covers Basildon, Thurrock, and Brentwood, earned £152,500 in 2008/09 a rise from £132,500 the previous year.