'Marbella Man': Health board overpaid director, audit finds

A struggling health board that paid nearly £2,000-a-day to a troubleshooter dubbed "Marbella Man" was spending over the odds, an audit found.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board spent £370,000 on interim recovery director Phillip Burns for nine months.

Mr Burns' contract was terminated early because of the Covid pandemic, last May. He was nicknamed Marbella Man as he worked one day a week from Spain.

The health board has been asked to comment on the audit's findings.

Adrian Crompton, Auditor General for Wales, examined the process followed by the health board in appointing five interim senior staff between February and October 2019, including Mr Burns.

The review found that the daily rate paid to Mr Burns was "above most of the benchmark comparators".

The Welsh Government had agreed to contribute £350,000 towards the cost of the interim recovery director, but played no part in the appointment itself, it also stated.

Mr Crompton said Mr Burns's appointment was made by the health board before the funding was confirmed.

"My work also found that whilst the health board asserts that competitive rates were negotiated for the appointment, I found that the £1,890 daily rate being paid by the health board for the interim recovery director post is higher than most of the benchmark comparators that were used by officials during the appointment process," said Mr Crompton.

Plaid Cymru's North Wales MS Llyr Gruffydd, has called for a full investigation into the findings that the health board paid over the market rate.

Mr Gruffydd said: "Audit Wales has now completed its annual report into the health board's finances and states quite clearly that the daily rate paid to the interim recovery director was higher than most of the benchmark comparators that were used by officials during the appointment process.

"So why did a health board in financial difficulties make such a generous offer - especially at a time when it was trying to force nurses to work an extra shift per month without pay?"

In 2019, the health board proposed that staff should no longer be paid for their 30-minute breaks, but the plan was scrapped.