By Alisdair Stirling
The Government will spend more than £850m in redundancy payments to NHS managers and staff, the DH has revealed.
In an answer to a parliamentary question, health minister Simon Burns revealed the size of the redundancy costs for PCT and SHA staff affected by the NHS reforms in an answer to a parliamentary question.
Mr Burns told the House of Commons that PCT staff will receive a total of £768 million and SHA staff will receive £84 million.
Public sector union Unite claimed the former NHS managers would walk straight into well-paid commissioning jobs in GP consortia.
Unite's National Officer for Health, Karen Reay said: 'We are not against employees receiving redundancy payments – however, this enormous figure is being used to facilitate the takeover of the NHS by private healthcare companies – some of whom are the very companies that have bankrolled the Tories to the tune of £750,000 since David Cameron became leader in 2005.
'What will be sickening for the hard-pressed taxpayer is that many of these managers, who will be receiving substantial pay-offs, will walk into well-remunerated commissioning jobs with the new GP consortia which are due to take over from the PCTs and SHAs.'
NHS redundancies will cost the NHS £850m
