NHS bosses are splurging £40million a year on “woke diversity non-jobs” that would pay for 1,500 more nurses.
Meanwhile, recent figures show that the NHS is falling behind on its aim to reduce the substantial post-pandemic waiting list in England.
The waiting list currently stands at 7.61 million, despite Rishi Sunak making a pledge at the beginning of last year to cut them down, promising that “lists will fall, and people will get the care they need more quickly”.
Professor Karol Sikora, an ex-World Health Organisation cancer chief, said: “Every single penny should be put directly into the pockets of frontline staff. More medical professionals should be standing up to this lunacy, even if it results in some unpleasant insults.”
Rishi Sunak promised to cut down waiting lists at the beginning of last year
PAEchoing this, Benjamin Elks of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Taxpayers will be furious at the health service blowing millions on woke non-jobs.
“While waiting lists spiral, poverty-pleading trusts should be directing all available resources to frontline care. It’s time for the health service to prioritise patients over political correctness.”
Figures attained by The Daily Express via Freedom of Information requests show that each NHS trust surveyed employs three Equality, Diversity and Inclusion personnel on annual salaries of £46,847.67.
In March 2023, the ex-Health Secretary Steve Barclay ordered the NHS to get rid of specific roles.
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However, in September of last year, the NHS announced that they would be spending millions of tax-payers’ money to create three new Departments: “Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, People and Culture, and People and Communities, with 244 posts across the three teams.
The recent information attained by FOIs has revealed that 296 NHS organisations have employed 822 staff with some diversity-related responsibilities across the health service.
Barclay was left “frustrated” after the new roles were announced in September, stating that these jobs should instead be covered by “normal management processes” as part of efforts to “ensure good value for money”.
The FOI request shows Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust has the highest number of roles, funding eight equality, diversity and inclusion staff on a combined £319,190.
The roles have been commissioned in order to promote fair treatment of people, particularly those under-represented due to their race, gender or disability.
In November, it was revealed that staff at some NHS hospitals were being forced to tick whether patients have a “penis or vagina” on a new medical form.
The waiting list currently stands at 7.61 million
PADoctors at some hospitals must complete the “nonsensical” documents as part of a new £450million IT system, which asks for information about someone’s gender identity.
Some staff slammed the new medical form as “insane” and “pretty bizarre”, according to The Telegraph.
As more money is spent on inclusionary roles, patients are being left by the wayside.
New data from NHS England released last week shows that the waiting list for routine hospital treatment has fallen for the second month in a row.
However, despite the recent decline, the figures are still far higher than the waiting list a year ago, which stood at 7.19 million.
Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak promised to cut waiting lists when he made his pledge, instead he cut spending on the NHS.
“Now one year on, millions are left waiting in pain for the treatment they need and the number has only grown over the last year.”