Local health leaders plan to spend at least £8.5m on managers to deliver regional plans to overhaul health and social care, according to a report from the BMA.
The report found, through Freedom of Information requests, that more than 150 jobs, including operations managers, communications executives, administrators and financial analysts, with combined annual salaries of at least £8.5m, have been created to deliver sustainability and transformation plans (STPs).
But the report adds that the actual numbers are likely to be much higher, with only around half of the 44 STP regions responding to the request and others unable to give detail of remuneration for some staff.
The BMA found that at least £1.1m of the spending was being spent on external consultants.
It also found that just five areas accounted for more than £5.5m of the spending:
- Cambridgeshire and Peterborough created 28 job roles at a cost of £893,000 annually;
- Milton Keynes, Bedfordshire and Luton created 12 jobs at a cost of £920,000;
- North Central London created 19 job roles at a cost of £974,000;
- Leicestershire and Rutland created 22 job roles at a cost of £673,000;
- North East London created 37 job roles at a cost of £2.3m.
Previous research from the BMA found that the plans will require at least £9.5bn of capital funding at a time when NHS leaders are unlikely to have that level of funding.
Dr Mark Porter, BMA Council chair, said: ‘With the NHS at breaking point, doctors and patients will be horrified to see millions being spent on another layer of bureaucracy to deliver these controversial plans.
‘The NHS needs more GPs, junior doctors and consultants – there is nothing sustainable or transformational about creating another costly team of managers while staff on the frontline struggle and patients suffer as a result.’
