Labour faces fresh calls to rein in NHS fat-cat pay as nearly 600 bosses rake in salaries more than Prime Minister, health service 'Rich List' finds, with number netting £300,000 more than doubling

Published: 19:00, 26 July 2026 | Updated: 19:20, 26 July 2026 Nearly 600 NHS bosses are raking in salaries higher than the Prime Minister, a report today reveals. Despite waiting lists barely falling, 574 fat-cat bureaucrats at NHS trusts banked base salaries worth more than the £182,000 the Prime Minister is entitled to. This was a 12 per cent year-on-year surge. Meanwhile, 1,758 senior bosses got total remuneration worth six figures – a 4 per cent jump – while 292 got at least £300,000. This was a surge of more than double (134 per cent). The findings come despite Labour promises to link NHS pay with performance amid stubbornly high waiting lists which have barely fallen since the party came to power in July 2024. Yvette Cooper, who was appointed the new Health Secretary by Andy Burnham this week, faced renewed calls to ensure spending reaches the frontline rather than being hoovered up by NHS bureaucrats. The Tories' shadow health secretary, Stuart Andrew, said: 'Running the NHS is a demanding job and managers should be rewarded for delivering results. 'But paying managers large bonuses while patients receive poor care is not good value for taxpayers or fair on NHS frontline staff. Yvette Cooper, who was appointed the new Health Secretary by Andy Burnham this week, faced renewed calls to ensure spending reaches the frontline rather than being hoovered up by NHS bureaucrats  Dr George Findlay, chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, got a total package worth £490,000 to £495,000, according to the TPA report  Medical director of NHS Lanarkshire, Dr Chris Deighan, got total remuneration of between £460,000 and £465,000  'Labour is handing out bonuses while patients bear the brunt of long waits and poor performance. 'Funding should be focused on frontline services and better patient care, not bigger payouts for managers.' Anne Strickland, researcher at the TaxPayers' Alliance, which conducted the study, 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.' The study found the boss of East Cheshire NHS Trust – Ged Murphy – banked total remuneration of between £375,000 and £380,000, up from £170,000 to £175,000 the year before. This was despite it being the worst performing trust for A&E waiting times last month. The NHS standard states that at least 95 per cent of patients attending A&E should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. But East Cheshire NHS Trust barely hit this for half of patients. The national average is around 75 per cent. Mr Murphy is retiring at the end of this month. Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was also ranked among the worst performing trusts for A&E and referral to treatment waiting times. Yet its medical director, Kevin Sargen, pocketed total remuneration of between £540,000 and £545,000. University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, also towards the bottom of official league tables, gave chief executive Dr George Findlay a total package worth £490,000 to £495,000. This included a bonus of between £30,000 and £35,000. NHS Lanarkshire has consistently been ranked 14 of 14 for A&E waiting times in Scotland. Yet its medical director Dr Chris Deighan got total remuneration of between £460,000 and £465,000. Meanwhile, Ajit Abraham, group director of inclusion and equity at Barts Health NHS Trust, got a salary of more than £200,000, the study found. And Shane Gordon, director of strategy for East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust got a package of between £250,000 and £255,000. The figures, covering more than 200 trusts across Britain for the 2024-25 financial year – the latest accounts available for most trusts – will anger many of the millions of patients stuck on waiting lists. Around 6.16million patients, relating to 7.28 million cases, are languishing on them, with 2.5 million waiting for more than 18 weeks. Around 105,000 of these patients have been waiting over a year for treatment. Former health secretary Wes Streeting first announced new rules to link senior NHS managers' pay to performance in November 2024. Under them, leaders at NHS trusts that perform well can get bonuses of up to 10 per cent. Those failing to hit targets can have pay rises docked. The changes also temporarily increased pay by up to 15 per cent in badly performing areas, up to £45,000, to try and recruit top talent at struggling trusts. This may partly explain the increase in some remuneration packages.  The TaxPayers' Alliance study related to managerial roles at NHS trusts and not NHS England, the quango which runs the health service but which is being scrapped by the Government. A health Department spokesman said: 'Competitive salaries and rewards enable the NHS to attract and retain the best talent available, driving up the service delivered for patients. 'But we have made clear that pay must be linked to performance, with a new policy that means only high-performing leaders are rewarded, while those who fail to improve services and cut waiting times no longer receive automatic pay rises.' All trusts were contacted for comment.