Hospital director’s salary: Health ‘broke the rules’
Thursday 31st March 2011, 3:00PM BST.
Comptroller and Auditor General Chris Swinson
THE Health department broke States pay rules when awarding the Island’s new Hospital director an excessive salary ‘far outside the normal structure’, according to a damning new report.
The embattled department has faced months of criticism after it was revealed that Andrew McLaughlin’s salary was costing the taxpayer £216,000 per year.
Now a new report by the States spending watchdog has revealed that Mr McLaughlin is enjoying that salary because of a series of irregularities within his contract-negotiation process.
The report, by the Comptroller and Auditor General, Chris Swinson, found that:
lMr McLaughlin is receiving an enhanced lucrative salary usually reserved for those on short-term contracts.
• See Thursday’s JEP for the full report
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This appears to say it all. The Ministers are out of control and cannot be trusted with a budget. Is it little wounder that we are in a finacial black hole?
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God help us poor tax payers… our politicians simply haven’t got a clue … spend it spend it spend it … who cares … no one will be held to account … they never have been and never will be
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if this is the case then the CEO should be dismissed AT ONCE for gross missconduct.whether its her fault or not.she would of had to sanction this.so let heads roll……………..but there again this is lala land
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£216,000 per year, that’s obscene and unfair…. demand to low his wages to an agreeable amount –
For a population of 90,000 in the island, that’s £2.40 per person on this island goes to hi pocket… I mean holy crap, how can this be allowed, I would feel guilty walking down the street? This is wrong simply wrong no matter what way you look at it, its cant be justified at all.
Now, how many of the 90,000 actually pay tax? say 10,000 children, maybe another 10,000 with no income , and say maybe another 10,000 elderly… so that’s £60,000 tax payers.
So more realistically that’s £3.60 per person.
Its not like he is majorly important, does his job puts his life at stake everyday? Is he working for hour a day with little rest?
How many other people wages are we over paying? surly if he took a lower wage the problems he is trying to manage can be resolved with the cash that would be his wages?
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Cracking beard.
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I think Andrew McLaughlin should be forced to take a pay cut, or failing that be made redundant.
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‘Mr McLaughlin is enjoying that salary because of a series of irregularities within his contract negotiation process’.
Why has the person responsible for agreeing his contract not been sacked????
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Why would the health department make this decision on their own?. I thought the States Employment Board, headed by our chief minister, was responsible for all senior appointments. Why would anyone on this board or any manager at health,go out of their way to pay over the odds, while at the same time admitting failure in delivering their department’s share of the spending cuts?.
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Well done Mr Swinson…..let’s have more open and transparent dealings….this is OUR money.
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No surprises there…..
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Why are we not surprised – all this does is explain why the Island is in such shit order financially!!!
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who said yes to it , should go.
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Will someone be sacked over this.
Me thinks not-probably a good old pat on the back and told to carry on as usual
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If he has a conscience he could always offer to pay some of the money back and take a proper salary like everyone else.
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“Why would the health department make this decision on their own?. I thought the States Employment Board, headed by our chief minister, was responsible for all senior appointments. Why would anyone on this board or any manager at health,go out of their way to pay over the odds, while at the same time admitting failure in delivering their department’s share of the spending cuts?.”
Elsewhere the Chief Minister admits that the island is controlled by departments driving their own agendas, there is no central control and the States is being driven ‘bottom up rather than top down’.
http://www.thisisjersey.com/2011/03/26/ministers-driving-their-own-agendas/
The manifest failures of Jersey cabinet government is laid bare by one of the central players in the disaster.
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I am a taxpayer, always have been. Jersey born, educated and raised, therefore I also have a right to say…Andrew mclaughlin is a welcome member to the jersey society. Could any of you who have provided such negativity conduct his job? Do you actually know what he does or what he has done. Do some research before throwing out such nonsense. We have him at what I believe to be a bargain, as a taxpayer I’m happy to have him in charge of our hospital…perhaps none of you have had the opportunity to go to UK hospitals. We should think ourselves lucky. Keep up the very good work Andrew. Andy.
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5 JJ – Cracking beard.
Belter innit, I understand he moonlights as Father Christmas and the states pay him £48,000 a day, nice little earner.
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16 Taxpayer –
I am a taxpayer, always have been. Jersey born, educated and raised, therefore I also have a right to say…
So by definition people like me who have been here for 25 years paying tax throughout that time are not entitled to an opinion.
BTW you have not always been a taxpayer, I doubt you paid a penny until you sterted working so at least 16 years tax free.
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It is not about him being welcome or competent.which by the way you may not speak for the rest of us…it is the way it was done ..the fact that the 300k would probably have rolled on if it had not been flagged up..remember he had already received payments based on 300k..note he did not run back and say Err excuse me you seem to have overpaid me this month whereby hangs a tail…so lets not have any advocacy for a St.Andrew here..it was a classic balls up which we the Taxpayer are weary of….and a huge amount more even at the revised rate than he could and was earning before….so unless you are on commission..?….these are the facts
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Clearly the States made a typiacally expensive balls up.
But for those who demand that this chap should hand back money I would point out that he took the role in good faith on the terms he agreed.
As for claims that these figures are “obscene” this is q1uite a difficult role – I’m a qualified professional but I couldn’t claim to run a hospital! In a world in which bankers are paid many times this for risking money, or a yob like Wayne Rooney gets this sum weekly in salary I’m not grossly offended.
We overpaid and the process was badly managed – that doesn’t mean the public lost £216k because after all we would have to employ someone and they’re not going to pay nothing, and of the sum overpaid 20% comes back in income tax. So the net mistake is maybe £40,000. Lets all move on to analysing where the States are really p*ssing our money away.
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Surely it is unsportsmanlike to ask someone to give money back that has been ‘won’ in this way?
It’s rather like when an ATM starts overpaying. Everyone knows that the bank can go and whistle. Of course, if it underpays then that is an entirely different matter.
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Taxpayer (comment 16) What do you mean by “perhaps none of you have had the opportunity to go to UK hospitals” I don’t understand what UK hospitals have to do with this man receiving such a huge salary?
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Been flagging this up for years!
How is this value for money?
Why has the person who sanctioned this been sacked?
Why do they keep protecting these people?
Why is it us that keep having to pay for these finacial mismanagements?
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#23 Me neither, I’ve had fantastic treatment in UK hospitals. But then taxpayer is probably a child of, wife of, close friend of the man getting all the taxpayer’s money.
The question is not whether WE (the taxpayer) know what he is actually doing, the question is whether ANYONE in charge of the island knows what he is actually doing? is monitoring him thoroughly (as should be the case on such a high salary)?, is setting him demanding targets and ensuring he meets them? I won’t be surprised if NONE of that is being done.
If he is as good as is claimed (and who knows, maybe he is) then maybe he would have been happy to accept a more basic salary with performance related bonuses that were actually performance related (as opposed to those experienced in other industries). If he is that good he could even have made more money from the taxpayer, but the taxpayer would have had confidence that he had saved us money and was worth it.
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It’s not that mistakes are made that is the problem, it is all the wriggling round after they have placed themselves on the hook.
Why does no one ever put their hands up and say, ‘sorry I messed up’, it’s always, ‘wasn’t me honest’. They remind me of school children.
A mistake was made, the minister should resign, she is ultimately responsible for the department.
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Channel 103′s APril Fool joke was that teh States had commissioned benches at £12k each for town and the new park.
No-one bit because this kind of insensitive extravagance is not exactly unknown by the COM.
They will do whatever they want if they can get away with it.
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Such incompetence is neither new nor uncommon; especially it seems within the States HR department yet until the person or persons responsible are both named and reprimanded it this will continue. Each time the states announce a pay freeze or cuts we have numerous public servants writing in to tell us how their jobs are equally demanding to the private sector. Well any person working in the private sector would have been walked to the door with personal items forwarded on if they had made such a mess, yet the worst the public sector can hand out is early retirement on a golden pension – hardly a deterrent!!
Recently the CoM has made a big issue of voluntary redundancies with ill considered claims that this will solve all our budgetary problems. As I see it this policy will see the best and most competent leaving on a golden handshake and enhanced pension arrangements whilst we will be left with the most incompetent who realise that they would have little chance of continued employment in the private sector.
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I see Deputy Pryke was applauded by the States members presumably being responsible for ending the previous cancellation of the health agreement.
That being the case will she accept responsibility for the bad management of her department in the shoddy way Mr McLaughlin was appointed.
It would seem she need not expect a tough time answering awkward questions from that same group of politicians that have closed ranks to protect her job
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