£57m a year bill for spin doctors at NHS hospitals, figures show

An eyewatering £57million was shelled out on communications last year, up 13 per cent from £50.4million the year before, according to Freedom of Information requests to 143 NHS trusts, boards and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England, Scotland and Wales. Some 1,000 communications staff on salaries of up to £108,000 were employed in 2021/22, an increase from 985 the previous year.

The investigation by the TaxPayers’ Alliance (TPA), which campaigns for lower taxes, comes as the NHS is facing a backlog crisis with seven million people waiting to start routine hospital treatment.

John O’Connell, chief executive of the TPA, said: “A bloated bureaucracy of middle-managers and administrative staff is pulling resources away from vital services.

“While public health messaging is important, it shouldn’t take a thousand plus staff to deliver clear, concise communications.

“Health bosses must ensure that staffing budgets are focused on the front line.”

The spending on communications covers staff, advertising, subscriptions, and related contractors and software.

The total amount is likely to be higher as there are 230 NHS trusts in England, as well as more than 100 CCGs in place until April, when they were merged into integrated care systems.

It is also in addition to press operations run by the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and health quangos.

An NHS spokesperson said: “The NHS in England employs more than 1.4 million staff across more than 800 hospitals and many more local health services.

“It remains one of the most efficient health services in the world, spending a far lower proportion on administration costs than comparable countries, to ensure we deliver maximum benefit for patients for every pound of taxpayer funding.

“NHS communications teams played a vital role in the national response to the Covid pandemic, from keeping staff up to date with the latest life-saving techniques and treatments for patients with the virus, to helping deliver the largest and fastest vaccination programme in NHS history that has saved hundreds of thousands of people from serious illness and death, and encouraging people to come forward for care for other conditions when they need it.”

Free car parking ordeal

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has denied reports that free car parking at NHS hospitals could be scrapped for the disabled and parents of sick children.

The move comes as Health Secretary Therese Coffey’s department is said to be looking at swingeing cuts to save tens of millions of pounds.

Under current arrangements in England, NHS trusts must provide free car parking for four groups - the disabled, parents of sick children staying overnight, outpatients who attend at least three times a week for three months and staff working night shifts.

But a source told a Sunday newspaper that the free hospital parking was under threat due to cost-cutting measures.

A source said: “They have got their eyes on this even though in terms of the overall NHS budget, it won’t save that much money.”

Pat Cullen, the Royal College of Nursing’s General Secretary and Chief Executive, warned against the controversial move, saying: “Ministers need to invest in nursing, not threaten to undermine it further.”

The DHSC denied reports that free car parking could be axed for the disabled and parents of sick children staying at hospitals.

It comes after the 2019 Tory manifesto pledged to “end unfair hospital car parking charges for those in greatest need”.

A DHSC spokesperson said: “There are no plans to remove free hospital car parking for those who need it most.

“We have delivered on the manifesto commitment to support thousands more NHS patients and visitors and will continue to do so.”