The financial problems in the Welsh NHS do not seem to have dampened its Labour leadership’s appetite for wasting money on oddly titled politically correct jobs. The Taxpayers’ Alliance have published a list of 43 pointless jobs, which are costing the public £1.5m a year according to the Daily Mail.
NHS Wales is facing budget cuts of one percent this year, which brings the total reduction in spending to eight percent since 2010. But Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board still found the money to employ a “carbon manager” on £43,414 a year plus a £6,078 contribution to their pension. The package would easily be enough to employ two newly qualified nurses.
The health board also has a head of communications on £50,000 a year along with £30,000 a year each for a leadership officer, a head of equality, diversity and human rights, and a senior equality manager, none of whom deliver any treatment to the patients, who are now suffering much longer waiting than they did before the cuts.
But health bosses do not seem deterred by the needless cost of these officials. Gwent has a sustainable transport manager on £30,308 per year, Cwm Taf has a leadership/management coach on £40,511 a year, and Velindre NHS Trust has an equality and diversity lead on £40,511. Velindre also employs a total of eight press officers, costing the taxpayer an eye-watering £250,000.
The TPA claim the figures show that Labour prioritise bureaucrats over patients and are often reluctant to cut posts that involve diversity or the environment. This approach has led to patients in Wales having to wait 170 days for a simple operation that would be done in 70 days in England.
Waiting lists are also far longer for serious conditions, around 50 percent of Welsh cancer sufferers wait more than six weeks for many scans and tests. In England, just 6 percent of patients wait that long.
Despite Labour’s poor track record in Wales the party are still trusted by more of the public to protect the NHS. As a result of this good reputation the Labour leadership plan to make their policies on the NHS central in next years general election campaign.
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