NHS consultants earning £200,000 in overtime to tackle backlog

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust paid three consultants more than £100,000 in overtime, including one who earned just above £198,000.

Managing director Stephen Collman said the trust was trying to reduce “premium payments” where possible but the need to cover sickness absence and vacant posts meant to keep services “running safely and effectively” it had no option.

Some hospitals said overtime rates had been driven up over the past year by the particularly high rates the BMA had told its consultants to ask for to provide strike cover.

“It created a new expectation of what they should get,” one official said.

But BMA consultant co-leaders Dr Helen Neary and Dr Shanu Datta said: “Unfortunately, a declining workforce in crisis and spiralling patient demand – which has led to sky high waiting lists – means that extra hours of work are essential to get the job done.”

They pointed out much of the overtime was done during unsocial hours, adding these were “highly-trained and experienced professionals” so it was reasonable for them to value their time “at appropriate rates”.

Danny Mortimer, of NHS Employers, which represents hospitals on employment issues, said: “In light of the difficult financial position of the NHS, health leaders are trying to bear down on extra-contractual premium pay rates.”

But there were no easy solutions as consultants played a “critical role” in tackling waiting lists.

And an NHS England official pointed out the use of agencies, which could be even more expensive, was falling.