New redundancy rules for Department of Health

Posted 30/08/2012

The Department of Health (DH) has announced new rules for redundancy payments to senior health managers working in the health service.NHS chief executive David Nicholson stated in a letter that strategic health authorities (SHAs) play a vital role protecting the reputation of the health service in the UK.Speaking about redundancies for directors and chief executives at SHAs, he said such cases are “thankfully rare”.Mr Nicholson added: “But they are also often complex and personally difficult for all involved.”The chief executive also highlighted the fact that the secretary of state for health is planning to bring in standardised notice periods for directors at less than six months.It was revealed earlier in the year that £500,000 has been paid in redundancy payments by a health trust in the north of England in 12 months, reported the Warrington Guardian.Warrington North MP Helen Jones stated it is an “enormous waste” of public funds.