A survey has found at least 17 open jobs for diversity and inclusion roles across the country, with budgets of up to £1m in annual salaries. It comes after a landmark report this summer which set out plans to shake up NHS management, including reducing the number of equality, diversity and inclusion roles over time. Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Trust is advertising for a temporary associate director of equality, diversity and inclusion on a salary of up to £77,274 per annum. The candidate will lead the Trust’s equality strategy, including developing an “inclusive, diverse and engaging culture”, according to the job description.
Current diversity jobs pay a total of over £900,000 a year
While University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is advertising a new role as head of equality, diversity and inclusion, paying up to £72,639 a year, it is understood the job is charity-funded. The Taxpayer’s Alliance investigation also found an advert for a part-time post at Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, as an equality, diversity and inclusion manager, offering candidates up to £44,503 a year with the option to work from home. The 17 jobs currently advertised on the NHS Jobs website could pay candidates up to £926,962 a year in total. John O’Connell, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers are fed up of seeing precious resources being used to pay for NHS recruitment of different kinds on higher wages. “While health bosses scream that services are at breaking point, NHS bodies continue to advertise for yet more diversity demagogues. “Ministers need to get their hands on it and ensure that these correct roles are played.” Conservative leadership hopeful Liz Truss said this week that the answer to problems in the NHS is not more funding, but changing a “culture” of waste within the service. “We need to change the culture of the NHS. In my view it’s not about more money, it’s about the culture,” he told the penultimate leadership gathering in Norwich, hosted by TalkTV, on Thursday. “A lot of people I know in the NHS say, you know, ‘there’s rubbish. There is a waste of prescription drugs, a waste of resources.”
The review warned of “institutional failure” in the way the NHS works
The Taxpayers Alliance’s findings come after the Messenger review, led by former Deputy Chief of Defense Staff General Sir Gordon Messenger, warned of “institutional failure” in the way the NHS is run and called for major reforms. Sir Gordon said more work was needed to improve equality in the NHS and suggested it was the responsibility of all leaders. Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, fully accepted the reports’ recommendations. He said at the time: “In my view, there are already too many working in roles that focus solely on diversity and inclusion, and at a time when our constituents are facing real cost-of-living pressures, we need to spend every penny on patients”. priorities. “As this report sets out, it should be everyone’s responsibility to encourage fairness and equality of opportunity, so we need to reduce the number of these roles.” Sir Gordon later said his report did not recommend reducing the number of equality diversity (EDI) and inclusion roles. “What he’s saying is that if one successfully instills equality, diversity and inclusion into every leader’s responsibilities, then it becomes an accepted, instinctive, understandable part of being a leader and manager at every level, then the requirement for dedicated EDI professionals should decrease over time,” he told the Health Service Journal. “He doesn’t make the recommendation that this has to happen before that cultural and behavioral and operational change happens.” It is understood that the recruitment of EDI roles is the responsibility of individual trusts and is not overseen by NHS England. The findings come as NHS bosses warn the service is facing pressures on urgent and urgent care this summer that are usually only seen in winter. Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said this week that the health service was planning “what is widely expected to be the busiest winter on record with the triple threat of Covid, flu and norovirus and against a backdrop of 105,000 vacancies, collapsing . estates, increasing treatment delays and a supported social care sector’.
