Fury at golden goodbye for former health chief

Thursday 4 October 2012

A FORMER health board chief executive has been handed a golden goodbye of £100,000 on top of a lucrative separate package, despite presiding over one of the worst scandals in recent NHS history.

ANGER: Calls have been made for Professor James Barbour to reconsider the £100,000 golden goodbye he has been handed after leaving scandal-hit NHS Lothian.

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BRIAN DONNELLY and TOM GORDON

Professor James Barbour, 59, took immediate retirement from NHS Lothian in April this year after staff had suspended up to 5000 patients from the waiting list to hit targets for treating patients within 18 months.

He also faced a damning report into bullying at the organisation, one of Scotland's largest health boards, whose area includes Edinburgh.Mr Barbour, 59, is due to receive in total almost £300,000 in a one-off pension payment and an annual sum later this year at his retirement age of 60. But it has emerged he has received an additional £100,000 in lieu of his six months' notice period and holiday allowance he was due at the time he left.Its unclear if Mr Barbour would have faced any disciplinary action or how this could have affected any payment if he had remained at the board. But the revelation has angered patients' representatives and MSPs at a time of job cuts and budget tightening within the health sector.Labour's health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie MSP said: "This is an eye-watering amount of money at a time when the SNP is cutting 5500 NHS staff, 2500 of which are nurses and midwives."The scale of the payment is shocking at a time of pay restraint for frontline NHS staff."The SNP have some serious questions to answer on this. Why are such large sums being paid out during a time when budgets are being squeezed and nurses are being cut?"Scottish Conservative deputy leader Jackson Carlaw said: "The public will be simply flabbergasted that someone who presided over a crisis that resulted in more than 5000 outpatients waiting longer than 12 weeks for an appointment is getting yet more public money."It is outrageous the board's former chief executive will escape proper scrutiny but is benefiting at the taxpayers' expense. Patients and staff have been left in an awful position because of this fiasco."Professor Barbour should reconsider walking away with such a lavish package when he faces major questions on how this mess occurred in the first place."Dr Jean Turner of the Scottish Patients' Association called for a wider investigation into the type of contracts given out to senior staff. She said: "It saddens me greatly. People like Professor Barbour are responsible for the waiting lists that people are spending so much time on."It's like they are being rewarded for failure. I wish everyone got six months pay in lieu when they retired." The figure of almost £300,000 Mr Barbour is due to receive comprises a £220,000 one-off payment which he is due and £75,000 a year pension. He had earlier been urged to pay back some of the lump sum.His departure came after initial bullying findings were released and as a separate inquiry was launched into allegations that waiting-time figures were manipulated to meet targets at the health board.It emerged more than 1200 patients had been referred to hospitals in England, but when they were declined they were omitted from a list of patients waiting more than the target of 18 weeks for treatment.Mr Barbour had spent 35 years in the NHS, with the last decade at NHS Lothian.A Scottish Government report into claims of bullying in the health board said the intimidating culture was "originating from the top level".The first investigation into the manipulation of waiting times at the health board heard the wider allegations of bullying and an oppressive management culture.The report described an "undermining, intimidating, demeaning, threatening and hostile working environment".Health board documents unearthed by The Herald reveal "a payment was made to him in lieu of six months notice and outstanding contractual holiday entitlements" which was "in addition to Professor Barbour's remuneration" that was previously reported.Mr Barbour ended his career on £195,000 a year and was earlier revealed to be the fourth-highest paid executive in NHS Scotland.The second probe ordered by the Scottish Government in May followed its direction to every board in the country to review waiting times practices as part of its internal audit this year, with Audit Scotland scrutiny also due.Susan Goldsmith, director of finance at NHS Lothian, said: "The total lump sum received by Professor James Barbour was approximately £100,000 and relates to his basic, contractual entitlement."The figure of £220,000 refers to his accrued pension rights which he will receive from his pension fund at the age of normal retirement."

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Fury at golden goodbye for former health chief

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