One in 5 staff handed pay-offs by the NHS has been rehired as revolving door means 5,500 get jobs back

  • Of 26,300 people made redundant since May 2010, 5,568 have been rehired
  • Labour accuse the government of showering pay-offs 'like confetti' 
  • Jeremy Hunt insists health reforms have saved billions more than expected

By MATT CHORLEY, POLITICAL EDITOR FOR MAILONLINE

Published: | Updated:

More than 5,500 health workers made redundant by the NHS have been rehired, ministers have admitted.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today boasted that government reforms have saved more than expected.

But official figures show that the health service's revolving door continues to spin, with one in five of those handed taxpayer-funded pay-offs now back working for the NHS.

A total of 5,568 people have been rehired after being made redundant by the NHS, including 291 between April and December last year

A total of 5,568 people have been rehired after being made redundant by the NHS, including 291 between April and December last year

Official rules mean that NHS staff only need to wait for four weeks after taking redundancy before they can move to a new job.

New figures show that of the 26,300 people made redundant since May 2010, 5,568 have been rehired.

In the last five years a total of 3,700 people have been handed permanent staff jobs while a further 1,868 have been re-employed on fixed-term contracts.

Between April and December last year almost 300 people were rehired after being made redundant.

Andy Burnham, Labour's shadow health secretary, said: 'The scandalous waste caused by David Cameron's NHS re-organisation gets worse the more we find out about it.

'David Cameron has been handing out cheques like confetti to people who were later re-hired at a time when hospitals are short of nurses.

'At a time when people are struggling to see a GP and A&E is in crisis, it shows a Government with its priorities seriously wrong and amounts to mismanagement of the NHS on a mammoth scale.'

The row erupted as the Department of Health claimed the coalition government's controversial reforms had saved more money than expected.

Staff redundancies under the changes, which came into force in April 2013, have cost £473million.

Overall, the bill for axing Primary Care Trusts and replacing them with Clinical Commissioning Groups came to £1.43billion, just below the forecast of £1.5 billion.

In a statement, Mr Hunt said savings made as a result of the overhaul would be higher than first thought.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today boasted that government reforms have saved more than expected

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt today boasted that government reforms have saved more than expected

The Department of Health also originally forecast that between 2010-11 and 2014-15 the reforms would save the NHS £4.5 billion in lower administration costs, as well as a further £1.5 billion a year thereafter.

But Mr Hunt said the actual savings were 'far greater', saving £6.9billion over this period, including £2 billion in 2014-15.

'This means the government has successfully achieved its aim to reduce NHS bureaucracy costs by a third,' Mr Hunt said.

'By removing excessive layers of bureaucracy, the NHS has significantly reduced the number of managers it employs. For example, the reduction of central administrative staff by 18,000 since 2010 has helped the NHS to increase the number of professionally qualified clinical staff by over 23,500, including over 8,500 more nurses and over 9,000 more doctors.

'These extra clinicians are treating record numbers of patients.

'For example, compared to 2012-2013, in 2014-2015 the NHS admitted 600,000 more patients to hospital, saw 3.4 million more outpatients, and did 2.2 million more diagnostic tests.' 

A Department for Health spokesman said: 'We're taking tough action to clamp down on senior NHS managers' salaries and capping redundancy pay. High earners who are made redundant and return to the NHS within a year will for the first time ever have to repay the taxpayer.'

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