A new report by the Centre for Policy Studies, examining the pay structure of the NHS, argues that the current system is failing both staff and patients.

The report, entitled ‘An NHS Bonus’, argues that, by introducing greater flexibility into the system and linking pay more closely with performance and objectives, we could improve both NHS productivity and patient outcomes. It urges the government and NHS managers to make reform of the pay system an urgent priority as part of the new funding settlement.

The report also demonstrates that talk of pay freezes and 1% pay caps for the NHS is highly misleading. Thanks to automatic progression along the NHS pay “spine”, the average annual pay rise between 2012 and 2017 has in fact been between 2.5% and 3%, which is broadly comparable to the private sector.

The report was written by Paul Goldsmith, a Consultant Neurologist, whose previous CPS report, ‘The Medico-Legal Crisis’, revealed the full scale of the NHS’s liabilities for medical malpractice, which now total £65 billion.

Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “NHS funding has captured the headlines recently. But even more important than funding is that the money is spent wisely.

“The bulk of NHS funding goes towards pay. Yet the NHS pay structure is deeply flawed, in ways that make it hard to address gaps in care between rich and poor areas, or to incentivise staff to perform better.

“The headline figures in the media about pay freezes also completely fail to reflect the reality of what people are earning, which could potentially damage recruitment and distort spending priorities.

“If we care about the NHS, we need to ensure that money is spent wisely, and that good staff are rewarded for good work.”

Dr Paul Goldsmith, Consultant Neurologist, said: “The NHS is full of incredibly bright, talented and dedicated people with lots of excellent ideas and initiatives, but is really poor at scaling and spreading innovation.

"The report shows how one can create an environment to achieve this, without central government meddling."

'An NHS Bonus' is available to download from the Centre for Policy Studies website.


https://www.cps.org.uk/