No justification

That the £300,000 cost of hiring and recruiting an interim hospital chief executive in this region outstrips the remuneration of Sir David Nicholson, who heads the National Health Service, shows the scale of the problem – and how successive governments have struggled to limit pay.

The mitigating factors of Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are noted. They had to make an appointment at short notice after the previous chief executive was taken ill, and Dr Peter Reading fulfilled this role until Ron Calvert assumed full-time responsibilities on September 1.

Nevertheless, this is probably not sufficient justification to pay an individual more than his counterparts in Leeds and Sheffield, two trusts with far greater responsibilities, and budgets, than Doncaster and Bassetlaw. And it also raises questions about why the Doncaster trust could not make an internal appointment that would have negated the need to pay an agency £59,000, plus VAT, to recruit Dr Reading on £230,000 a year.

As the whole country comes to term with yet another slump in economic confidence, and how they’re pay more tax for lesser services, this is another expensive reminder that the upper echelons of the public sector should not be immune from the difficult decisions that they expect of their staff and their clients, in this case NHS patients.

Just because executive pay has been allowed to spiral out of control does not mean that it should remain unchecked. Quite the opposite. Some efficiencies will send out a strong message that the individuals concerned are still driven by duty.