NHS CB runs up £2.5m staff bill

Sir David Nicholson

The National Commissioning Board Authority spent £2.5m on staff in the first five months of its existence.

The authority’s newly released ‘annual’ report covers the period from October 2011 to March 2012.

It details staff costs including £220,00 - £265,000 for its chief executive and national directors, most of whom were only working for the NHS CB for 40% of their time.

Chief executive Sir David Nicholson was paid between £35,000 and £40,000 for 40% of his time over five months (with the rest of his time spent at the Department of Health, where he remains NHS chief executive).

The report says that because many staff were employed on a secondment basis it would not be appropriate to disclose their total remuneration.

It adds that eight of nine national directors were appointed in the first five months and on average, 55 people were employed during this time.

The ninth was Tim Kelsey who was appointed national director patients and information, in May on an advertised salary of £165,000 a year.

Non staff costs were about £1.9m bringing the net operating cost to £4.4m. The board had a spend limit of £7.3m for this time.

The report also reveals that the board authority has signed a six-year contract worth £61m for accounting services.

Sir David said the five months covered by this annual report had seen an “unprecedented amount of change”.

“There is an incredible amount still to do, but we must build on the achievements made and included in this report,” he said.

“I am confident that in the months and years ahead, we will have a clinically-led system, connected directly to the needs and aspirations of patients and local people.”

The extent of clinical leadership in the new NHS has been called into question by a new report from Pulse revealing that less than half of the members of the new clinical commissioning groups are GPs.

Information released from 100 CCGs showed 49% of board positions are held by GPs and in some areas representation was a low as 20%.