A freedom of information disclosure reveals ex-executive director of CQC (Care Quality Commission), responsible for regulating the private care sector, was paid more than the Prime Minister’s annual salary for just 10 months work as Bristol City Council’s director of Health and Social Care. David Johnstone left Bristol City Council very suddenly in April. Unite claims his advice was ‘ignored’ by Council leaders. As interim strategic director of Health and Social Care, Johnstone was paid £159,250 for only ten months work between May 2010 and March 2011: equivalent to £191,100 per annum.[i] David Cameron’s salary is £142,000. Johnstone’s fee was £89,874 more than he would have received if formally appointed to the role through the Council’s standard recruitment practice. Unite claims that because his advice about the future of homecare services for older people in the City has been ignored, the Council’s Homecare workers will lose their jobs and the service will close.
Unite’s Steve Preddy commented: ‘Unite had no idea Johnstone was paid so much. The only possible explanation for his enormously inflated wage is the expertise he offered as a specialist in the management of care services. Johnstone personally assured all Homecare staff that their jobs were safe. He recommended savings be made through better commissioning and more effective use of staff time. This advice has been ignored by a Lib Dem administration who are now hell-bent on privatising all homecare in Bristol instead of managing this precious service in a responsible fashion.’
Johnstone was not the only person concerned about staff being ‘under-utilised’.[ii] The Executive Member for Health and Social Care Dr Jon Rodgers has previously admitted ‘we can save £1000’s by using services effectively. At the moment we commission services we don’t currently use and there is waste in the Council.’[iii] However, rather than turning these wasted care hours into productive time spent with service users as recommended by Johnstone, Unite claims Lib Dems quickly dispensed with Johnstone’s services because they were determined to maximise the proportion of the Council’s care budget spent privately.
Johnstone had a ‘strong and successful record in leading and developing adult social care services’[iv] and replaced the previous interim director of health and social care who had worked for the Council for nearly 20 years. Johnstone himself has been further replaced by another ‘interim’ Director. His advice to the Council confirmed that ‘services would not be changed, good practice would be put in place instead’.[v] In early 2011 the Lib Dems approved his budget plans to find savings from the Council own homecare service by reducing the use of agency staff, reducing sickness levels, and reducing management overheads.[vi] However, days after Johnstone’s unexpected departure, the Council sent homecare staff letters informing them that their jobs were to be scrapped. Although the Council subsequently apologised and withdrew the letters when trade unions made clear that the Council’s actions were unlawful, the process of transferring service users from Council provision to private companies has continued unabated.
Unite’s Steve Preddy commented: ‘The Council continually claim that private sector care is cheaper than that provided by the Council’s own workers but it is a failure of leadership and management that is the most significant factor in the disparity of costs. Bristol people will be astonished to learn that the recommendations of a man considered to be worth more than the Prime Minister have been so callously ignored.’
For further information contact: Steve Preddy, Regional Officer, Unite
Mobile: 0776 446 7443, email: steve.preddy@unitetheunion.org
