Pay: Dr Angela Bhan is one of around 70 executives earning more than the recommended £125,000. She takes home £175,000 . NHS bosses are awarding themselves six-figure salaries far in excess of the pay they are entitled to, it emerged last night. Some 70 executives of new regional bodies earn more than the £125,000 maximum recommended by the NHS. Twenty of the bosses, including nine specialist doctors and GPs, earn more than the £142,000 paid to the Prime Minister. One took home £280,000 last year, although this included the fees of the recruitment agency that headhunted him. MPs said the huge salaries were ‘shocking and obscene’ given the increasingly tight constraints on the NHS budget. Many of the trusts these executives run are trying to save money by rationing routine procedures such as cataract surgery, hip and knee replacements and IVF. The salaries were uncovered by e-reward, an online pay research service, which analysed the pay of more than 2,500 managers at the 211 clinical commissioning groups in England. These regional health bodies replaced primary care trusts in 2013 to control local NHS budgets. E-reward said 56 per cent of the 225 top executives – chief officers and chief finance officers – were paying themselves more than that recommended by NHS England, which runs the Health Service. The approved salary range is £95,000 to £125,000 a year, depending on the size of the clinical commissioning group. The biggest was paid to Martin Sheldon, chief financial officer for Redbridge CCG in Essex, at £280,000, including the cost of his recruitment. Dr Angela Bhan, chief executive of Bromley CCG in Kent and a doctor specialising in public health, earns £175,000. To make matters worse, some of the executives received generous redundancy payoffs when primary care trusts were abolished – before walking straight into almost identical roles at CCGs weeks later. MPs said the huge salaries were ‘shocking and obscene’ given the increasingly tight constraints on the NHS budget (file image) Figures published at the weekend showed the NHS has spent £225million on the so-called revolving-door payoffs on 5,200 staff since 2013. The average was £43,000, although some received more than £500,000. Tory MP Charlotte Leslie, who sits on the Commons Health Select Committee, said: ‘It is incredible that senior managers are getting paid this kind of money when the NHS is struggling for funds to meet soaring demand. ‘Not only are they raking in obscene salaries, they are also unaccountable, with no regulatory body like doctors and nurses have. Tory MP Charlotte Leslie said the salaries were 'obscene' ‘If executives think it is okay to accept this kind of pay, it suggests they either don’t understand the financial pressures on NHS finances, or they don’t care. Either way, most people will find this utterly shocking.’ Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing, said: ‘The NHS needs good managers, especially in an environment of perpetual change. ‘However, it is galling and disheartening for many frontline nursing staff, who have been dealing with the realities of austerity year on year, to see the disproportionate rewards being given to bosses. ‘Besides the disparity of this for hard-pressed staff enduring a pay squeeze, this is also strong evidence of the high cost of reorganising the NHS. To meet the demands on the service, NHS funds should be going to the front line, not spent on managers or restructures.’ The NHS budget is under increasing pressure from the demands of a growing and ageing population. Last year, its chief executive Simon Stevens said an extra investment of £8billion was needed over five years merely to maintain standards. Steve Glenn, head of executive remuneration research at e-reward, said bosses were paid a lot to ensure they did not take lucrative private-sector jobs. He added: ‘There is already quite a bit of activity in the labour market for CCG executives, even though it is only a couple of years since their establishment.’
One executive took home £280,000 last year - double the Prime Minister . Some 70 other executives earn more than the £125,000 recommended cap . MPs said the salaries were 'shocking and obscene' given tight NHS cuts .