A skint Southport Hospital pay Parry and three staff £200,000

Photo: Paid out, Jonathan Parry

The bosses of Southport’s cash-strapped hospital have been paid a total of £200,000 since they were suspended on full pay six months ago.

Jonathan Parry, the Southport and Ormskirk hospital trust’s chief executive, three of his top team have now been suspended from work since August, as an investigation sparked by complaints continues.

The findings are expected to be made at the end of March or early April, after which the Trust will decide what action it will take.

Chief operating officer Sheilah Finnegan, human resources director Sharon Partington and deputy director of performance, Richard McCarthy, were all dismissed alongside Parry.

The four have been paid at least £200,000 in total since being suspended – described by Southport MP John Pugh as an “atrocious waste of much-needed NHS money”.

The revealed  Parry has been paid £75,000 in salary since he was suspended around 200 days ago.

Meanwhile, Ms Finnegan has been handed £55,000 over the same period and Ms Partington has received £45,000.

It is not known exactly how much Mr McCarthy has been paid while on suspension, but his salary band ranges from £65,900 to £81,600 a year – indicating a cost to the public purse of between £33,000 and £41,000 over six months.

Photo: MP John Pugh

Liberal Democrat Mr Pugh said: “This is an atrocious waste of much-needed NHS money that could have gone into patient care.

“The trust has functioned within a management vacuum for the last few months and it is staff morale and patient care that will have suffered.”

Ann Marr, chief executive of St Helens and Whiston hospitals, was drafted in to be interim chief executive of the Southport and Ormskirk trust as well when the four were suspended last summer.

Sue Musson, chairman of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, said: “The trust excluded four members of staff – the chief executive, the chief operating officer, the human resources director and the deputy director of performance – on August 4, 2015.

“Exclusion from work is not a disciplinary sanction but a neutral act while matters are investigated. As such they are excluded on full pay.”

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