NHS 'rich list'revealed as 300 health bosses take home over £200k despite huge waiting lis

More than 500 senior managers at the are on salaries higher than the , a new report suggests. The analysis by the published today lays out some of the staggering sums bosses at the health services are earning, despite waiting lists remaining in the millions.

According to put together by a policy analyst at the pressure group, Shimeon Lee, in 2023-24, 1,694 senior managers across 224 NHS trusts got more than £100,000 in total remuneration (which includes salary, expenses, benefits, bonuses and pension benefits). 1,557 of them had a salary exceeding £100,000, including 17 on more than £300,000, with 279 with salaries ranging between £200,000 and £300,000 the study suggests.

1,261 of the 1,694 were found to be on between £100,000 and £200,000.

Meanwhile, 512 senior managers had salaries higher than the £172,153 Sir Keir Starmer earns annually for running the country, the report says.

Mr Lee said: "Taxpayers will be appalled that while NHS patients face prolonged waiting lists and dismal A&E performance, hundreds of senior managers are pocketing six-figure pay packets.

"This rich list shows that there are sky-high salaries for senior bureaucrats... that are impossible to justify. If ministers are serious about getting the NHS back on track, they need to ensure that managers of poor-performing trusts aren't being rewarded for failure."

NHS spending has grown by 24.5% since 2014, though A&E referral to treatment waiting times have also risen considerably.

The NHS operational standard introduced in 2010 states that no more than 5% of patients should wait more than four hours between arrival and admission, transfer, or discharge at A&E. That year, 8% were waiting over four hours, and the figure had climbed to 45% by December 2023.

Meanwhile, though the NHS delivered a record 18 million treatments last year with the waiting list falling in December for the fourth month in a row, they remain stubbornly high.

Announcing the landmark in February, the NHS said the overall backlog "has dropped again from 7.48 million to 7.46 million, while the estimated number of patients waiting is down from 6.28 million to 6.24 million".

Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced a new "carrot and stick" approach to NHS pay reform this month. He says CEOs who reduce waiting times and deliver improvements for patients could potentially be handed bonuses of up to 10%.

But executives heading up failing trusts will have annual pay rises docked as part of "tough new government measures".

Mr Streeting said: "Some of the best businesses and most effective organisations across Britain and the world reward their top talent so they can keep on delivering. There's no reason why we shouldn't do the same in our NHS.

"We will reward leaders who are cutting waiting times and making sure patients get better services. But bonuses and pay rises will be a reward and not a right, because I'm determined that every penny we invest through our Plan for Change is money well spent.

"Our carrot and stick reforms will boost productivity, tackle underperformance and drive up standards for patients."

However, Matthew Taylor, the CEO of the NHS Confederation, has warned that holding back pay could unfairly punish leaders of trusts with performance records influenced by factors out of their control, as per .

A Department of Health spokesperson said the figures in the TaxPayers Alliance report "relate to the previous Government's term in office".

"This Government is introducing tough new measures in relation to senior managers' pay, to drive progress on cutting waiting lists. The NHS should pay to attract top talent, but there can be no more rewards to failure," they added.

An NHS spokesperson said: "NHS managers play a key role in delivering exceptional care and services for patients - and new plans announced last week will strengthen the link between managers' pay and operational performance to improve care for patients."