More than 40 NHS executives in Yorkshire are paid more than the Prime Minister

Analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has found that 574 NHS managers across the UK were paid more than the Prime Minister in the 2024-25 financial year.

Senior executives at Hull’s under-pressure NHS trust have two of the highest salaries in the health service in Yorkshire and the Humber, new figures have revealed.

Analysis by the TaxPayers’ Alliance has found that 574 NHS managers across the UK were paid more than the Prime Minister in the 2024-25 financial year, the latest data that is available.

According to the TPA, that included 45 executives across Yorkshire with salaries higher than Sir Keir Starmer’s £172,153 in that year.

Dr Kate Wood, Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s medical director, was the highest paid with an annual salary between £295,000 and £300,000.

The third highest paid executive in 2024-25 was the trust’s then chief executive, Jonathan Lofthouse, who was paid £282,500 in that year.

Sandwiched between them in second was Richard Jenkins, chief executive at the Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, who was on £287,500.

All three of these senior staff members cover two NHS trusts. Both Dr Wood and Mr Lofthouse are in the Humber Health Partnership, which also includes the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

Mr Jenkins also is chief executive for the Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust.

The highest paid staff member for a single trust was Professor Phil Wood at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust on £277,500.

A BBC investigation revealed the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers over the past five years may have been prevented, while legal firm Irwin Mitchell is representing more than 30 families in action against the trust.

Prof Wood retired in 2025 and has now been replaced by Brendan Brown. Mr Brown moved over from Calderdale and Huddersfield’s trust, where he was paid £227,500 in 2024-25.

Humber Health Partnership chief executive Mr Lofthouse has also since been replaced by Lyn Simpson, who the trust said was being paid £279,000 a year.

The change has been made with Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust struggling with performance indicators.

It is currently sitting bottom of the Labour Government’s new NHS league tables out of all 134 acute trusts in England.

This is calculated by assessing A&E waiting times, elective surgery waits and ambulance response times.

At the time, Brendan Cafferty, regional organiser for the Unison union, said: “A constant turnover of senior managers alongside regular changes to structures within the trust has created a sense of uncertainty for staff, and a lack of clarity over who is in charge.”

A spokesperson for the partnership said: “Salaries are set within national pay frameworks.

“The challenges we face currently did not manifest overnight and require sustained, radical and transformative solutions.

“While we are disappointed with our current position, our first clinically led improvement plan, driven by our most experienced doctors, nurses and allied health professionals, is already securing major improvements.

“Our emergency department in Hull has been held up in Parliament as an example of improved performance nationally, breast cancer appointments are now in line with national targets and our hospitals at Grimsby and Goole were named as among the best in the country for planned surgery recently.

“The recent appointments of a new chairman and chief Executive recently is bringing much-needed organisational stability and we look forward to seeing our progress reflected in the National Oversight Framework in the near future.”

A spokesperson for Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust added: “In preparation for the new guidance for chief executive pay in the NHS, during 2024-25 Prof Phil Wood transferred from the medical pay scale to the very senior manager pay scale, which is consistent with the guidance and had little impact on his salary.”