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28
Jul
Harrogate hospital managers included on new 'NHS Rich List'
The latest salaries of senior managers at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust have been revealed.
Research by the Taxpayers' Alliance found that 574 senior officials in the NHS had salaries greater than the Prime Minister’s £172,153 in 2024/25 — an increase on 512 in the previous year.
Of that figure, two senior managers from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Harrogate District Hospital and Ripon Community Hospital, were included.
They were Jonathan Coulter, chief executive of the trust, who received a salary of £202,500 and Professor Jacqueline Andrews, medical director, who is paid £207,500.
Including pension contributions, both Mr Coulter and Ms Andrews received total remuneration of £252,500.
The research also identified 1,758 senior managers who received more than £100,000 in total remuneration in 2024-25. This was an increase of 3.8 per cent from 2023-24.
Those included from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust were:
- Russell Nightingale, chief operating officer - salary: £127,500, total remuneration: £157,500
- Matt Graham, director of strategy - salary: £132,500, total remuneration: £157,500
- Jordan McKie, director of finance - salary: £142,500, total remuneration: £142,500
- Angela Wilkinson, director of workforce and organisational development - salary: £122,500, total remuneration: £122,500
- Emma Nunez, director of nursing and midwifery - salary: £147,500, total remuneration: £387,500
Ms Nunez, Mr Nightingale and Ms Wilkinson no longer work at the trust.
The highest paid director included in the Taxpayers' Alliance research was Sir James Mackey, chief executive of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who received a salary of £377,500 and had a total remuneration of £382,500.
This was followed by West Hertfordshire Teaching Hospitals, where chief medical officer, Michael Van Der Watt, received a total pay package of £372,500 in 2024-25.
The Taxpayers Alliance, a pressure group that campaigns for lower taxes, called on the Labour government to follow through on its promise to link performance to pay inside the NHS.
Anne Strickland, researcher at the organisation, said:
Taxpayers will be appalled that NHS executive pay is soaring while patients are still left waiting for care.
Andy Burnham’s new government has an early opportunity to show taxpayers that it will get a grip on this culture of rewarding failure.
Ministers must keep their promise to link performance to pay, so that failing NHS bosses are held accountable and money goes into patients’ care not managers’ pockets.
In response to the research, a spokesperson for Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust said:
Executive team member salaries are approved in line with a framework produced by NHS England and based on a range of salaries depending on the size or type of organisation.
These salaries are approved by non-executive directors through a remuneration committee.
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