Latest news with #Grampian
The Sun
3 days ago
- Health
- The Sun
Crisis-hit NHS bosses raking in MASSIVE salaries as frontline services cry out for cash
SCORES of NHS bosses are raking in a combined £10million a year while patients endure lengthy backlogs for treatment, we can reveal. Some 65 health board chiefs take home six-figure salaries, with top earner Paul Bachoo, of Grampian, on £252,500 — almost £117,000 more than First Minister John Swinney. 4 4 4 Calling for wages to be slashed, Labour's Carol Mochan said: 'Millions is spent propping up a web of bureaucracy while frontline services are struggling to cope.' Our figures show that 65 of NHS executives' top earners make more than £100,000, with several clearing £200,000. And calls have been made for some of the £9,833,094 wage bill to be diverted to struggling frontline services after cancer treatment waiting times hit a record high. It emerged that 40 health execs earn more than First Minister John Swinney's salary of £135,605. While 17 rake in higher than Sir Keir Starmer's 2024 wage of £172,153 — as their patients face lengthening delays for crucial care. Caithness-based health campaigner Peter Todd has led demands for red tape to be slashed. I bet not many of these bosses, some of whom earn more than the PM, do a night shift in A&E, regularly meet patients and travel out of their Ivory Tower Peter ToddCaithness-based health campaigner He said: 'I bet not many of these bosses, some of whom earn more than the PM, do a night shift in A&E, regularly meet patients and travel out of their Ivory Tower. 'And who decides upon the make-up of health boards? Because some seem ridiculously bloated.' The Scottish Sun on Sunday's findings show 12 health board chiefs on around £200,000 or more. Acute medical director Paul Bachoo — also a consultant vascular surgeon — was top on £252,500 while his NHS Grampian colleague Dr Hugh Bishop earned £232,500. Ayrshire and Arran medical director Dr Crawford McGuffie was second-highest earner on £247,500. Borders boss Dr Lynn McCallum made £227,500 while Dumfries and Galloway's Dr Ken Donaldson and Fife's Dr Christopher McKenna each commanded £212,500. Dr Chris Deighan, of NHS Lanarkshire, earned £207,500. Others on £200,000-plus salaries were Greater Glasgow and Clyde's Dr Scott Davidson and NHS Lothian's Tracey Gillies. Six — health board chief execs Jann Gardner and Professor Caroline Hiscox plus directors Dr James Cotton, Tim Patterson, Dr Emilia Crichton and Boyd Peters — earned between £190,000 and £200,000. Other big earners include £142,500-a-year NHS Fife chief executive Carol Potter — who has faced calls to quit over the £250,000 cost of the Sandie Peggie employment tribunal. Meanwhile figures show waiting lists have doubled leaving the equivalent of nearly 900,000 adults awaiting hospital appointments. With cancer waiting times at a record high and patients struggling to get a GP appointment, there is no excuse for scarce resources being wasted on excessive bureaucracy Brian Whittle Tory shadow public health minister And spending watchdogs have underlined how the NHS remains strapped for cash despite huge funding boosts. Tory shadow public health minister Brian Whittle urged ministers to spend 'less on bloated management and more on frontline care.' The MSP added: 'With cancer waiting times at a record high and patients struggling to get a GP appointment, there is no excuse for scarce resources being wasted on excessive bureaucracy.' Vowing to cut the number of health boards if Labour wins next year's Scottish Parliament election, counterpart Carol Mochan weighed in: 'Scottish Labour will slash red tape so funding goes to frontline staff and services.' We totted up wages using mid-points of salary ranges provided by health boards. NHS Grampian emerged at the top with a £990,000 executive salary bill ahead of Greater Glasgow and Clyde's of around £862,500. Elsewhere Lanarkshire's five chiefs banked £812,500, six NHS Forth Valley bosses made £773,094 and five NHS Fife executives were paid £762,500 collectively. NHS FAT CATS EXPOSED Paul Bachoo - Salary £252k Acute Medical Director, NHS Grampian. Average surgery wait: 207 days. 1 in 10 waiting 792 days. Dr Crawford McGuffie - Salary £247k Medical Director, NHS Ayrshire & Arran. Average surgery wait: 150 days. 1 in 10 waiting 518 days. Dr Hugh Bishop - Salary £232k Medical Director, NHS Grampian. Average surgery wait: 207 days. 1 in 10 waiting 792 days. Dr Lynn McCallum - Salary £227k Medical Director, NHS Borders. Average surgery wait: 150 days. 1 in 10 waiting 472 days. Ken Donaldson - Salary £212k Medical Director, NHS Dumfries & Galloway. Average surgery wait: 166 days. 1 in 10 waiting 413 days. Dr Christopher McKenna - Salary £212k Medical Director, NHS Fife. Average surgery wait: 117 days. 1 in 10 waiting 340 days. Dr Chris Deighan - Salary £207k Medical Director, NHS Lanarkshire. Average surgery wait: 143 days. 1 in 10 waiting 466 days Dr Scott Davidson- Salary £202k Medical Director, NHS Glasgow & Clyde. Average surgery wait: 210 days. 1 in 10 waiting 651 days. Tracey Gillies - Salary £202k Medical Director, NHS Lothian. Average surgery wait: 181 days. 1 in 10 waiting 546 days. Jann Gardner - Salary £197k Chief Executive, NHS Glasgow & Clyde. Average surgery wait: 210 days. 1 in 10 waiting 651 days. Prof Caroline Hiscox - Salary £197k Chief Executive, NHS Lothian Average surgery wait: 181 days. 1 in 10 waiting 546 days Dr James Cotton - Salary £197k Medical Director, NHS Tayside. Average surgery wait: 199 days. 1 in 10 waiting 667 days. Nats previously guaranteed patients the right to an operation within 12 weeks, or 84 days, of treatment being agreed. But stats from March showed an average 167-day wait for inpatient or day case surgery. Worst was NHS Grampian — home to some of the country's top-earning health executives — where one in ten patients faced a staggering 792-day hold-up. Slamming the figures, Shimeon Lee, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, hit out: 'The NHS desperately needs to reduce its bloated bureaucracy. 'Despite staffing taking up a huge chunk of the budget, it isn't turning into enough doctors and nurses. "Instead, it's going to an ever-expanding layer of management.' Some earnings calculations do not include other payments such as pension benefits. Former NHS Tayside chief Catherine Cowan received an £70,347 exit package on stepping down from her £217,500-a-year role in 2023. Bosses in Ayrshire and Arran, Fife, Grampian, Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Lanarkshire, Lothian and Tayside stressed some executives and directors also have frontline clinical duties. And they told how salaries are overseen by a national performance committee. Labour last January proposed cutting the number of health boards from 14 to three with the Tories also open to the changes. Then-Social Care Minister Maree Todd, said at the time the idea was 'being bounced around'. A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'Salaries of NHS chief executives and senior staff are independently assessed and reflect their roles as leaders of large public sector organisations. "Medical directors are NHS consultants paid on consultant terms and conditions. 'We've committed to reforming our public services, making them more efficient, high-quality and effective. 'We are investing £21.7billion, including £200million to reduce waiting times and ensure patients get the right care.' 4
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Scots going private and paying £2.5k for cataract surgery amid an SNP waiting list crisis for eye operations
Thousands hard-pressed Scots are raiding their savings to pay for cataract surgery amid soaring NHS waiting lists, MailOnline can reveal. Latest figures show 8,500 people north of the Border shelled out around £2,500 for the operation last year – more than double the number who went private in 2019. Some 19,000 people are currently stuck on an NHS waiting list for the eye surgery across Scotland. One patient under the care of NHS Grampian has been waiting for more than three years to receive treatment. The figures expose the scale of the NHS waiting times crisis under the SNP – and the lengths to which Scots are going in order to get timely care. Public Health Scotland last month admitted waits of more than two years for specialist NHS appointments and treatment were at record highs. It said the number of people stranded on a waiting list after being referred for an outpatient clinic more than two years ago stood at 5,262. That is despite First Minister John Swinney setting out in January that he would bring down waiting lists. Last night, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: 'I can only imagine the panic and distress that these waits are causing for patients. I know NHS staff are working hard to get waiting lists down but they are not getting the support they need from bosses and ministers... It's clear the SNP have no plan for tackling long waits for complex specialties.' Data obtained via the Private Healthcare Market Information group shows that 8,500 Scots paid for cataract operations out of their own pocket in 2024, more than double the 4,075 people forced to go private for the surgery in 2019. Figures obtained by Mr Cole-Hamilton's party found long NHS waits for cataract surgery – in which the eye's cloudy lens is swapped for a clear artificial lens – at a number of health boards. NHS Grampian admitted one person had been waiting for 1,253 days – almost three-and-a-half years. The longest waits elsewhere include 869 days in NHS Shetland, 824 days in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 680 days in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, 644 days in NHS Borders, 548 days in NHS Fife, 532 days in NHS Lanarkshire and 508 days in NHS Highland. Meanwhile, the figures show that in total 18,956 Scots are on a cataract waiting list, with the longest list being in NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where 3,207 people have been referred. Embattled NHS Fife comes in second, with 2,440 patients waiting for the surgery. Embattled NHS Fife comes in second, with 2,440 patients waiting for the surgery. A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'We have allocated £106million to health boards to help tackle the longest waits and deliver over 150,000 additional appointments and procedures.'
Press and Journal
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Press and Journal
King's Birthday Honours 2025: List of recipients from Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
Worthy folk from across the north-east have all been recognised in this year's Birthday Honours List. Six people have been given honours by King Charles III for their outstanding contributions to their communities. has been awarded a BEM for services to older people within Grampian. , a dedicated volunteer, has been recognised for services to the Gordon Highlanders Museum and to the Royal British Legion. Mr Glennie was on the beaches during D-Day and is the sole survivor of the Gordon Highlanders. , a talented musician, began playing the accordion at the age of 10. An accordionist in Jack Sinclair's Scottish band for 30 years, he has played annually for the Ghillies Ball hosted by the late Queen at Balmoral. He joined the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society 30 years ago and has never looked back, pursuing his passion for music. He has been awarded for his services to music and culture. served as Port of Aberdeen chairman for eight years. He has been made an MBE for services to the maritime sector and to charity. The Port of Aberdeen will be thrust onto the world stage during next month's Tall Ships Races. has been a volunteer in her community in Mearns and has been awarded for her hard work. , a paramedic with the Scottish Ambulance Service, has been recognised for services to healthcare and charity.
The Courier
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
We look back at the best Tayside and Fife properties from Scotland's Home of the Year
The latest series of Scotland's Home of the Year has finished for another year. Despite making the final, Broughty Ferry's Tree House missed out to Hilltop House in Aberdeenshire. The BBC has commissioned an 8th season of the property show and will begin filming in June 2025. We've taken a look back through SHOTY's history to find the best Tayside and Fife homes to have featured in the show. The first season of SHOTY saw two Tayside and Fife homes reach the final. Little Blair House in Dalgety Bay won the East of Scotland episode. Its owners transformed it from a simple 1970s bungalow into a stunning and vivid family home. Textile designer Rachel Henderson bought the much-loved seaside home from her grandmother. On a miniscule budget she managed to transform it into a rainbow-hued, sun-drenched and happy place to live. SHOTY's first season also featured the Humpty House at Loch of Lintrathen, north of Kirriemuir. Designed by its owners, Ben Scrimgeour and his wife Rosemary, the home also houses their architectural practice. Rosemary said at the time: 'It is a contemporary Scottish building which is half family home and half office. 'Humpty House is a 21st century interpretation of a traditional rural agricultural structure. 'The interior is open with long wide oak floor boards, exposed agricultural style steel, enormous shutters and pendant lights. 'We designed many of the building components from our steel roof structure to our staircase, furniture and even the kitchen drawer pulls.' The sophomore season of SHOTY saw two Tayside homes make the final. A home near Brechin and a cottage in Strathtay came out on top in the Grampian and Perthshire episodes of the show. The Glebe is a former manse in the hamlet of Farnell, around five miles from Brechin. Its owners Jane and Ruaraidh Adams shared it with their three children and their dog. Interior designer Jane remodelled the house, knocking down a wall to create an open plan kitchen/living area. Another home to feature in the second season is Mouse Cottage in Highland Perthshire. The house sits on the edge of Strathtay Golf Course. The two bedroom cottage is owned by artist Penny Kennedy, who lived there for three years before commencing an 18-month overhaul of the house. Beside the house is Penny's studio, which faces south and gets lots of natural light. She also bought a patch of land from the golf course to expand her garden. Penny used a female builder from Aberfeldy, Jo Penfold, to spearhead the renovation works. She also had mains water installed after getting fed up of carrying buckets up the garden to clear silted-up water tanks. A stunning new build in St Andrews featured on Scotland's Home of the Year in 2021. The Garden House is a beautiful modernist home with a feature pond and decking. The house is owned by Helen and Ben Gray, who live there with their son Zach and three-year old spaniel Soda. The Hepburn Gardens site originally belonged to a house on the opposite side of the street. One of the challenges of building the Garden House was designing a home that didn't overlook neighbouring properties. The house looks over its own Japanese style garden complete with pond and decking. Iron Mill Bay also featured in the third season. It's a unique home overlooking the River Forth. It was built by Lisa Malube and her husband Martin for the couple and their three children. They used East Neuk based Fife Architects to come up with a unique design that put a circular stone tower as its focal point. The five-bedroom, two-storey home has a T-shaped floor plan with a large open plan living/kitchen/dining area that has a double height ceiling and gallery above. The reception room and most of the bedrooms are located to take advantage of the sweeping views across the river. Eco features were a priority and the house has an air source heat pump, solar panels and a rainwater harvesting system. A Mid Century Funhouse in Dunblane also cropped up in season three. Its lively interior is a tribute to the 1960s, inspired in part by the hit TV show Mad Men. It's full of yellows and greens, along with vintage fixtures and furnishings. The house was an eight-year labour of love for owners Nick and Fiona Grant, who live there with their son Eddie. An abandoned concrete water tank in Fife was converted into a stunning home that reached the 2022 SHOTY final. The Old Waterworks is a remarkable property near Crail that's been made from an abandoned concrete water storage tank. It was built by Sam and Ewan Robertson, who bought the Old Waterworks when they were just 18 years old. The abandoned building sat in a quiet corner of the farm owned by Ewan's family. The Old Waterworks is an extraordinary three-bedroom home. The vaulted concrete structure has a living roof covered in grass. Inside, the main living area is open plan and the beautiful barrel concrete ceiling forms a remarkable feature. There is a double-height living area and a beautiful sunroom that is accessed from the decking outside. The fourth season of the show also featured Easter Cottage in Charlestown, on the Forth Coast. Dorothy and Ricky Steedman bought the house in 2020 and set about transforming it. One of the main changes was converting an upstairs bedroom into a yoga studio. A few miles along the Fife coastline in Dalgety Bay is the Scottish Vybe, another home to feature in SHOTY's fourth season. It was given a dramatic overhaul by Angela and Paul Young. Built in the late 1950s the Scottish Vybe was originally owned by a Norwegian sea captain. He took the unusual-for-the-time step of making the property an upside down house, with the living room upstairs and the bedrooms on the ground floor. Also in season four was Our Adapted Home, a semi-detached house in Dundee that was cleverly modified for the needs of a disabled child. It was bought by Katie and Daniel Radke, who extensively transformed it to accommodate their daughter Jessica. It has runners and hoists in the ceiling, an accessible wetroom, a profiling bed, and other equipment designed to make life easier. At the same time it is a bright and colourful modern family home. The season-opener in 2023 featured two Fife properties. Alexandra Apartment is a double-upper flat in Kirkcaldy that's home to Gary Gourlay and his flatmate Sammy. The flat has a lovely semi open-plan layout, with the living room flowing into the kitchen and windows to both front and rear. Upstairs, the master bedroom has a bay window and rooftop views to the sea. In nearby Markinch, Mount Frost is a detached 1990s house. Emma and Scott Gillespie extensively overhauled the property. The house is spread over four levels, with the ground floor featuring a shower room and an office. On the first floor is a fantastic open plan kitchen, dining area and snug. Up another level is the formal living room, while the bedrooms are on the top floor. Meanwhile, the Old Manse in Auchterarder was one of the six properties to make the final in 2023. The handsome house was the winner of the fifth season's third episode, which focused on the Central Belt. Kelly and Michel Hillard upgraded the building. They knocked through a wall to create a wonderful open plan kitchen/diner that takes full advantage of views over the enormous walled garden. Judge Banjo Beale said of the Old Manse: 'If I could change one thing it would be replacing the owners with myself.' A striking new build house near St Cyrus in Aberdeenshire also reached the final six. Snowdrop House is a stunning contemporary home clad in stone and timber built by property developer Ross and his partner Emily. Originally Ross planned to build three homes on the plot and sell them for a profit. However he and Emily fell in love with the site and decided to build their own dream home instead. A fantastic mill conversion near Dunblane featured in the sixth season of SHOTY. The Old Mill lies on the banks of the Allan Water. Fields and woodland surround the building. Built 200 years ago, its occupants abandoned it for more than 25 years. But Lee and Dawn Collins bought the derelict building. 'It was in quite a state when we got it and had been derelict for at least 25 years,' Lee said. 'But it was too good an opportunity to pass up. You had this great mill building on a site with a river running through it.' He split the Old Mill into a three-bedroom main house with a home office, and a two-bedroom townhouse annex. The 2024 season of SHOTY also featured the Pink House, in the village of Crossford, near Dunfermline. Built in the 1940s, the Pink House has mock-Tudor styling, exposed brickwork, and bay windows. Its owners Heather and Brian Craig transformed it with a palette of bold colours – most notably pink. So far no house in Tayside or Fife has won Scotland's home of the year…or has it? It's true that the main SHOTY show has yet to see a winner from this area. However, each December the show returns for a one-off Christmas special episode. The judges crowned a Perthshire cottage Scotland's Christmas Home of the Year in 2022. You can find Easter Shian in beautiful Glen Quaich. That's midway between Crieff, Dunkeld and Aberfeldy. Debbie Halls-Evans and her husband Dave bought the house in August 2020. The farmhouse dates from 1705. Each year they put up four huge Christmas trees and light a roaring fire to enjoy total Christmas seclusion in their remote glen.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Clearfield County man faces over 2,800 charges for abuse of young girls
CLEARFIELD COUNTY, Pa. (WTAJ) — A Grampian man has been hit with more than 2,800 charges relating to the alleged physical and sexual abuse of two young girls. Devin John Moore, 38, is facing 2,840 charges that include indecent assault of a person under 13 (500), indecent assault of a person under 16 (780), corruption of minors (780) and endangering the welfare of a child (777), after two sisters came forward about the alleged abuse. According to charging documents, one of the two girls told Child and Youth Services that Moore would sexually abuse them from when she was in fourth grade to ninth grade, including groping her and touching parts of her body almost daily. The other girl said Moore was physically abusive to her. A previous criminal complaint from the end of May shows that Moore was arrested after physically hitting the girl, sending her to the hospital. According to court documents, the girl said she hadn't done her chores to Moore's satisfaction, and while arguing, she brought up the sexual abuse of her sister, and that's when Moore struck her. Father-son duo arrested in Clearfield County after DUI police chase The sisters also alleged that their mother knew about the sexual abuse for the past year and that she had a contract written up for Moore stating that he promised to stop the sexual abuse. According to the affidavit, when Moore was arrested, he allegedly commented that he had separated from his wife and was leaving that night to go to Costa Rica. State police noted in the criminal complaint that they received a search warrant to find the alleged contract; however, when they arrived at the home, it appeared it may have been burned in a 'still warm to the touch' burn barrel with burned remains of paper sitting on the top of the ashes. In addition to computers and electronic devices, troopers said a notebook was seized where Moore's wife allegedly wrote statements such as: 'It's going to be hard to curb that and fix it because he doesn't feel like he is doing anything wrong.' Court documents show that bail for Moore was denied, citing the seriousness of the charges and a possible lengthy prison was placed in Clearfield County Jail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 11. It should be noted that we reached out to Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan Sayers to inquire about the mother, however, he stated this investigation is ongoing and he cannot comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
