MORE than half a million pounds has been paid over the past five years to a consultancy firm headed by a woman once labelled the ‘NHS payout queen’, it has emerged.
A freedom-of-information response shows that £506,192 of taxpayers’ money has been shelled out in fees to Improving Performance Consultancy, which is led by Kim Hodgson, as well as a further £10,803 for flights, £2,100 for hotel stays and £863 for other expenses.
Ms Hodgson came under fire in 2016 when it emerged that she was being paid £1,000 a day to act as interim head of Southport and Formby District General Hospital, in total receiving £95,000 for 2½ months’ work.
She was dubbed the ‘NHS payout queen’ at the time by the local branch of the Liberal Democrats.
St John Constable Andy Jehan has submitted a States question on the matter, claiming that the company was meant to have ceased providing services to the Government of Jersey in 2020.
He said: ‘This is on my radar. I have submitted a written question about this company, which was meant to have stopped providing services to us about two years ago,’ he said.
‘They were involved in the appointment of the clinical director of the Our Hospital project [Ashok Handa].’ Mr Jehan said that he had also submitted questions concerning the work of Mr Handa and the Our Hospital project director Richard Bannister because he had concerns about how much work they were doing.
The Constable added: ‘I don’t have a problem with the rate of pay they are getting, it’s the amount of time we are paying them for.
‘If you are a consultant you should not need to do that much work.
‘You should be giving people advice and leaving lower-paid people to get on with the work.
‘It seems that these consultants are doing quite a lot of work which local people could be getting on with instead.’
Last year it was revealed that government spending on consultants and temporary staff soared to £37 million in the second half of 2020, having been £28 million during the previous six months.
The FOI response says that Improving Performance Consultancy was no longer ‘engaged as of the end of March 2022’.
An earlier FOI, published last year, concerning the consultancy says that its workstreams had included the France Covid-19 response, chaperone policy, Jersey pay strategy and a cannabis petition response.
Another, released in 2019, says that Ms Hodgson was recruited by the Health Department via an ‘off contract call’ with a recruitment agency.
It adds: ‘Ms Hodgson was subsequently engaged by the Health and Social Services department (now HCS) personnel staff who no longer work for the organisation and documentation in respect of the process for her engagement has not been able to be retrieved.
‘Since 2018, Ms Hodgson has completed a number of different assignments which have included development of policies and associated documentation, job planning for medical staff, coaching and mentoring for senior clinical staff, technical assessments and independent panel member on senior appointments. The previous arrangements for the engagement of the consultancy are currently being reviewed; and many of the previous areas of assistance will no longer be required going forward.’
To date, Ms Hodgson has been paid more than £318,000 for her services by the Island.
