Most of the top earners in Local Health Boards in Wales take home more than the Prime Minister, Welsh Conservatives revealed yesterday.
The figures reveal that top clinicians and executives in the boards are earning as much as £211,000 a year, at a time when the NHS is facing real pressures to balance the books.
Combined salaries for the 10 top earners in each LHB cost the NHS in excess of £10.9million a year.
The health service in Wales is facing cuts of £534million over the next three years as a result of the Welsh Labour Government budget. These are the deepest cuts of any UK nation.
Darren Millar AM, Shadow Minister for Health, said, “It is extraordinary that many of the top ten earners at Welsh Local Health Boards are taking home more than the Prime Minister.
“At a time when the Welsh NHS is facing record-breaking cuts and patients are fearful about the future of maternity and emergency services, Local Health Boards are paying their top earners as much as £200,000 a year.
“While we accept that pay needs to be competitive to attract some top clinicians, office-based executives on massive six figure sums are difficult for many to accept.
“The increasing number of patients stuck on NHS waiting lists will find these figures particularly galling – especially as services are struggling under the budgetary pressures imposed by Labour’s £534 million cuts.”
