Fury as NHS STILL spending millions on woke jobs & projects despite Labour vow to reform ailing health service

THE NHS is still spending millions of pounds on politically correct, non-frontline services despite Labour’s pledge to reform our ailing health service, a Sun on Sunday investigation has revealed.

We identified costly projects in place across the UK since Labour came to power, including in hospitals the Care Quality Commission said need to improve.

It comes despite a previously announced clampdown on such spending.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting revealed this week that, in the first three months of this financial year, NHS trusts had racked up budget deficits of £2billion.

Since the General Election in July, there have been a number of jobs advertised across the country for people and diversity roles.

Yet critics argue patients would rather see frontline staff employed.

A number of trusts are also offering staff perks, including days off for their birthday and even for completing mandatory training.

Many of these roles and projects are being slammed as “virtue signalling” amid demands for health chiefs to stop misspending taxpayers’ money and focus on patient care.

According to figures from the end of last year, there was already an annual spend of £13million on 336 diversity roles across the country.

Last night, Professor Karol Sikora, a London-based consultant oncologist, said: “What are these highly paid but totally unskilled diversity officers actually going to do?

“Next time you’re in a clinic waiting room, who do you actually want to see — a doctor or EDI [equality, diversity and inclusion] officer?

“Pouring billions more into the NHS will be totally wasted if we don’t change the whole management structure. Being woke will just waste money and cost lives.”

In a major speech this week, Wes Streeting said the NHS was on “borrowed time” and had to improve efficiency.

Yet we found jobs have been advertised across the country within NHS Trusts for various EDI posts since the election.

They included the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust seeking a patient EDI officer and engagement coordinator, with a salary up to £36,483.

Yet, according to a 2020 Care Quality Commission report, The Royal Cornwall Hospital required improvement overall, but there have been advances in recent years. It also has a deficit of nearly £3.5million.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust is recruiting a public involvement and equalities specialist at a salary of up to £44,962 and the role involves ensuring they “take a robust approach to public participation . . . equality, diversity and inclusion”.

It already spends more than any other hospital in the country on diversity roles.

According to The Taxpayers’ Alliance it is £464,101.

Despite this, the Care Quality Commission 2023 report, which looked at maternity services, said it also needed improvement. Its deficit is £71million.

Figures last November from the TaxPayers’ Alliance showed King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in London had ten roles totalling £428,127.

Others splashing more than £200,000 on equality and diversity positions included Barts Health NHS Trust in London, which spent £376,645 on seven roles.

However, in its most recent report, the CQC found it requires improvement overall and that staff “regularly worked through breaks and beyond the end of their shift”.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, which spent £352,930 on eight jobs, reported a £22million deficit in 2023.

The trust’s annual report said: “The financial context in which we operate has been challenging, but we have made progress.”

Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust, spent £307,181.

The trust said in its annual report it has been “balancing the need to reduce waiting times and improve services”.

SPEND THE MONEY RIGHT

Sir John Hayes, MP for South Holland and The Deepings, in Lincolnshire, said: “Most of my constituents, I suspect, want that money spent on doctors and nurses.

“Let’s get the money on the front line, treating patients. That’s what the NHS is for.

“Not pandering to politically correct, woke mantras.”

A number of hospitals around the country offer staff other perks.

Among them is the Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust based in Greater Manchester, where employees can have their birthday off as part of annual entitlement.

They can buy up to four weeks of extra holiday, something offered by many trusts.

Elsewhere, hospital staff are entitled to a day off for completing mandatory training and having a flu jab.

Between 2019 and 2022, trusts also spent £45,000 on rainbow crossings on NHS estates.

They included North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which paid £950 to paint LGBT colours alongside zebra stripes on pedestrian crossings.

Shadow Health Secretary Edward Argar said: “So far, we’ve seen words, not actions, from the Labour Government.

“They need to get serious in making sure money in our NHS goes into frontline services.”

In her Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves gave the NHS a £22.6billion cash injection over two years.

Joanna Marchong, of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “The Health Secretary should be holding back additional funds until NHS bosses prove they can spend it wisely.”

The Department of Health and Social Care said: “Our 10 Year Health Plan will fix the NHS so we get more bang for taxpayers’ buck and clear the backlog.”

An NHS spokesman said: “We are committed to ensuring every penny of taxpayer money is used wisely to the benefit of patients, and the number of equality, diversity and inclusion roles has been reduced by NHS England as part of efforts to ensure a greater proportion of funding reaches the front line.”

A spokesman for Nottingham University Hospitals said of its new speciality role: “It will work across the East Midlands to give people a chance to have a say in the future of their care treatment, helping them get cost-effective services.”

And a spokesman for Royal Cornwall said its EDI role was to replace an existing funded position, “to ensure patients, such as those with a learning disability are able to access healthcare”.