Healthy pay: NHS doctor gets $500,000

A hospital doctor is earning more than 290,000 pounds from his National Health Service salary and a series of bonuses, including a 40,000 supplement to be on call. Figures obtained by The Sunday Times under the Freedom of Information Act suggest hundreds of NHS consultants earned more than 190,000 in the financial year ending in March – more than Gordon Brown – putting them in the top 1% of earners. By contrast with highly paid workers in the private sector, who now face widespread unemployment, they also enjoy full job security.

Previously NHS consultants turned to private work for extra income. The figures show they can now more than double their basic salaries by sticking with the health service, thanks to bonuses inflated by incentives to meet government targets to cut waiting lists.

The generosity of the NHS towards its senior staff may anger patients who have recently been deprived of modern cancer or osteoporosis treatments because they have been deemed too expensive. The consultant who earned more than 290,000 in the last financial year is a breast surgeon at University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust in Lancashire and Cumbria. On top of his 120,000 basic salary he is paid an annual bonus of 90,000 as a “merit award” or “clinical excellence award”. These extras, given for exceptional contributions, are paid to thousands of consultants every year. The surgeon was also paid 40,000 for overtime shifts and a 40,000 supplement for being on call.

A doctor at the Royal Devon & Exeter NHS Foundation Trust earned about 130,000 in extra payments, including 50,000-55,000 to run a regional service and 35,000-40,000 to bring down waiting lists.

Another consultant, working for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, was paid a supplement of 77,000 in the last financial year for carrying out extra shifts to meet a target of giving all patients treatment within 18 weeks.

Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients Association, said: “It is unethical for the medical profession to line their pockets in this way knowing that NHS trusts are being forced to cut services. Patients are being left in pain. “Doctors are always complaining about how underpaid they are. The reverse is the case. They are being given bonuses for what should be part of their day jobs.”

A spokesman for the Morecambe Bay NHS trust said: “The consultant is highly productive and provides a high quality of care. The trust is fortunate to have his skills, knowledge and experience.”

Last month The Sunday Times reported that an NHS nurse had broken the 100,000 barrier for the first time. The nurse consultant in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, doubled her basic salary of 50,000 by working overtime to bring down waiting lists.

The health department has already been accused of awarding unduly generous new contracts to NHS employees without achieving better treatments for patients. A report by the public accounts committee found that a contract for consultants boosted their pay by 27% without any measurable improvement in productivity.

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Stressed Australian nurses quit public hospitals for prostitution

Exhausted and demoralised nurses would rather work as prostitutes than in Queensland's crumbling hospitals, says one former registered nurse. The mother of two with 10 years' experience as a registered nurse, who wanted to be known only as Jenna, has told how she and at least four of her colleagues have found new jobs working in brothels. "We could no longer work in such an understaffed and stressful environment," she said. "I was overworked, poorly paid and a mistake could have led to charges if I caused a death. "I came to the conclusion the nursing shortage wasn't my problem but it was my responsibility to protect myself from burning out or making a fatal mistake."

Queensland Nurses Union assistant secretary Beth Mohle said the union was aware nurses were leaving the system due to workloads and burnout, and were experiencing record levels of frustration. "A survey of nurses' attitudes undertaken last year found most nurses love nursing but hate their jobs," she said. "There's a tension there that nurses feel they can't deliver the quality of nursing they want to." She said based on population growth projections, Queensland would need an additional 16,000 nurses in the private, public and aged-care sectors by 2014. "Queensland is already behind the rest of Australia in terms of registered nurse numbers and is over-represented in the unlicensed assistant-in-nursing category," Ms Mohle said. "Of the 16,100 nursing assistants in Australia in 2006, Queensland had a massive 7300, or nearly 50 per cent. This points to a serious skill mix problem, as well as a numerical problem, within the Queensland nursing workforce." The QNU survey also found 45 per cent of nurses had experienced workplace violence, which is more prevalent in the public and aged-care sectors than in the private sector.

Jenna said violence was more of a concern in hospitals than in the sex industry. "The security (at the brothel) is wonderful. We have buzzers in our room, there are bracelets we can request if you have a client you're a bit suspicious of." Jenna said she had gone to great lengths to hide her new occupation from her family. "I wear my nurse's uniform to work, I carry my hospital ID. But when I get to work I change. There's a couple of others who do the same," she said.

Health Minister Stephen Robertson said it was disappointing some nurses were seeking alternative careers. "Queensland nurses are now among the highest paid in Australia, having benefited from a 26 per cent wage increase since 2006," he said. "This is one of the factors which has helped us to recruit an extra 5834 nurses since June 2005."

Jenna highlighted the "tiny tea-rooms" for nurses and the lack of recognition they received. "After the Bali bomb blasts, the burns unit of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital treated many additional patients. At the end, the doctor was given an award. The nurses got nothing," she said. She also revealed how doctors at the RBWH referred to nurses as "Libra fleurs" - because they believed the floral tops of their uniforms resembled tampon boxes.

But Mr Robertson said the Government had created a "safe and supporting working environment for nurses". "We'll continue to work ... to ensure we have a strong nursing workforce, equipped to give Queenslanders the first-class health care they expect and deserve," he said.

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