In information obtained by the Ulster Unionist Party it was revealed that the number of non-medical health staff earning such a total remuneration increased from 15 in 2012/13, to 22 in 2013/14 and to 30 in 2014/15. In addition there was a slight increase from 5 to 6 in the number of non-medical staff earning in excess of £125,000 a year.
Jo-Anne Dobson 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 publication of these figures shines a light on what is happening at the top echelons of the local health service. I am outraged that whilst key staff and patients are being forced into ever intolerable conditions, so many public sector workers and administrators at the top are being remunerated over £100,000 per annum.
“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.
“In addition to the increasing waits, essential staff such as our nurses and midwives have been forced into taking unprecedented industrial action in their battle to receive the most basic pay rises; something which they are still being refused as Simon Hamilton claims he can’t afford it.
“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.
“Simon Hamilton needs to intervene and ensure money is going to where it is most needed in the National Health Service, and not into the ever swelling pay packets of an increasing number of background administrators.”