Published: December 12, 2012
Burnham-On-Sea MP's anger over pay rises for health bosses

Burnham-On-Sea's MP says she is "stunned" that the Board of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has reportedly given its senior managers a 5% pay rise next year, with one individual awarded a 6% rise, at a time when front-line staff have been asked to accept a pay freeze.

Tessa Munt has this week raised the matter in the House of Commons.

"I am stunned by what I have been told. Nurses, and many other staff, work hard to ensure the Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has a successful record and reputation - delivering great care, often with fewer resources than last year and in challenging circumstances," she said.'

"If, as David Cameron reminds us, we are 'all in this together', then there should not be such blatant inequality in the NHS. I have written to the Trust to express my disappointment that this has happened here in Somerset and to request that the Board re-considers its policy of pay rises for senior management."

In the Commons, she received a response from Andrew Lansley, the former Secretary of State for Health, who said: "If such pay restraint is applied to NHS staff generally, it should apply equally to management."