REVEALED: Scandal of fat cats on first ever NHS rich list - nearly 300 health bosses are handed packages worth over £200,000
Despite failing to bring down waiting lists, nearly 1,700 fat-cat bureaucrats at NHS trusts were each handed more than £100,000 a year.
With record sums already being poured in by taxpayers, the first-ever NHS Rich List found that 512 managers banked salaries higher than Sir Keir Starmer (£172,153).
Nearly 300 received packages of £200,000 or more.
East Cheshire NHS Trust paid eight managers £100,000 or more despite being the worst-performing trust in percentage terms for seeing A&E patients within four hours.
It saw just 50.6 per cent within the target time, well below the 78 per cent expected.
Among the managers was the trust's 'director of people and culture' and deputy CEO Rachael Charlton, who raked in a package of £367,500.
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust also gave eight bosses £100,000 or more despite having the worst referral-to-treatment median waiting times. Chief medical director Catherine Walsh banked £387,500 in pay and perks.
The figures, covering more than 200 trusts for the 2023-24 financial year, will anger the millions of patients stuck on waiting lists.
Around 6.25 million patients, relating to 7.42 million cases, are languishing on them, with nearly 3 million waiting for more than 18 weeks.
The study by the TaxPayers' Alliance will also fuel suspicions that much of the money lavished on the health service is not making it to the front line and is instead helping to fund 'non-jobs' such as diversity roles.
Referring to Labour's plan to hand 10 per cent bonuses to NHS bosses whose trusts perform well, Tory health spokesman Edward Argar said: 'The Labour Government plans to hand generous bonuses to NHS managers for simply doing what they are already paid to do as part of their jobs.
'Patients will rightly be shocked, and asking why Labour aren't focusing instead on making sure those who are already very well paid are delivering the results taxpayers have a right to expect. Diverting public funds into executive bonus schemes, instead of investing that money in frontline care for patients, is simply wrong.'
Shimeon Lee, who compiled the report, said: 'Taxpayers will be appalled that while NHS patients face prolonged waiting lists and dismal A&E performance, hundreds of senior managers are pocketing six-figure pay packets.
'This rich list shows that there are sky-high salaries for senior bureaucrats... that are impossible to justify.
'If ministers are serious about getting the NHS back on track, they need to ensure that managers of poor-performing trusts aren't being rewarded for failure.'
The study found that 1,694 senior managers got £100,000 or more in total remuneration across 224 trusts. Of these, 1,557 included a salary over £100,000.
A further 296 got £200,000 or more while 17 got more than £300,000.
Ann James, the former CEO of University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, was paid a £382,500 salary.
Her trust was ranked 95th out of 136 in England for A&E waiting times.
Jonathan Brotherton, chief executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, received a pay package of £427,500, including a £262,500 salary.
His trust was ranked 128th of 149 for referral-to-treatment waiting times and 119th of 136 for A&E waiting times in England.
George Findlay, the chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, was handed a £32,500 bonus – on top of his £222,500 salary – despite it ranking 143th of 149 and 105th of 136 for the same targets.
By contrast, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust had the best referral-to-treatment waiting times.
Chief executive Joe Rafferty got a total pay package of £257,500.
Another eyebrow-raising salary was the £257,000 that North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust gave its 'chief people officer', Louise Tibbert.
In January, it emerged that the NHS was hiring diversity staff at a rate of one a week despite orders to cut back on the initiatives.
A recent poll found that nearly two-thirds of voters back the idea of a new US-style 'Department of Government Efficiency' to slash billions of pounds of wasteful spending on bureaucracy and 'non-jobs' such as diversity and inclusion officers.
The TaxPayers' Alliance study related to managerial roles at NHS trusts and not NHS England, the quango which runs the health service but which is being scrapped by the Government.
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'This Government is introducing tough new measures in relation to senior managers' pay, to drive progress on cutting waiting lists.
'The NHS should pay to attract top talent, but there can be no more rewards to failure.'
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