Rico next? CWU might get an idea from this article

Janet Brum · Post by **Janet Brum** » 02 May 2020, 00:10

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An advisor who sometimes worked from his Spanish home while costing a struggling health board almost £2,000 a day has had his contract terminated.

Philip Burns was dubbed 'Marbella Man' as he did work from his Costa del Sol home while advising a Welsh health board which is in special measures.

It emerged Betsi Cadwaladr health board planned to pay him £360,990 for a nine month contract.

The board says his contract has ended early due to the coronavirus pandemic.

He has now left his interim recovery director contract two months early.

Betsi Cadwaladr has been in special measures - the highest form of Welsh Government intervention - since a damning report in June 2015 .

Mr Burns was appointed by the north Wales health board's former chief executive Gary Doherty in a bid to revive Betsi's fortunes.

The board then confirmed it was employing Mr Burns, through healthcare consultancy firm Hunter Healthcare, on a nine month contract worth £360,990, or £1,990 a day.

Betsi described the sum at the time as "market rate for this level of expertise".

The recovery programme Mr Burns was in charge of was supposed to yield savings and efficiencies for the organisation.

But the board's projected deficit to the end of the 2019-2020 financial year is expected to be around £57.72m - up from £42m in 2019, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service .

The board is also expecting additional pressures of around £10m caused by the coronavirus pandemic as it looks to make savings of £45m this financial year.

It emerged in a freedom of information request that the Welsh Government was to finance £350,000 towards payments made to Mr Burns.

His post was one of 38 management consultant roles uncovered by Plaid Cymru AM Llyr Gruffydd.

"At the same time they were paying Mr Burns, they tried to introduce changes to thousands of nurses' rotas that would have meant NHS staff having to work an extra shift a month for nothing," said Mr Gruffydd.

"The savings from that plan, which were shelved but not abandoned by the board after opposition by trade unions and Plaid Cymru, would have been less than Mr Burns was being paid for his nine-month stint as 'recovery director'.

"It now emerges that his contract has been terminated with two months to go. So the positive news is that the board has saved £70,000, but they've paid him almost £300,000 in eight months to achieve what exactly?

"I understand that the focus of both the board and Welsh Government must be to deal with Covid-19 in the short term, but at some stage we must have answers about the £5m spent in recent years on these management consultants in north Wales."

Mr Burns' contract was due to expire in June, but a spokesman for the health board confirmed it had been finished early and his contract had not been paid up in full.

"The health board took the decision to stand down the recovery programme for a period of time to focus on the Covid-19 response," said the spokesman.

In all, Mr Burns was due to earn more than £360,000 for his nine-month-stint, while conducting 20% of it from his home in Marbella.

Bboingg · Post by **Bboingg** » 02 May 2020, 09:56

Maybe the Board that made that appointment will also consider sacking themselves for incompetence!

scoobydo79 · Post by **scoobydo79** » 02 May 2020, 12:51

Surely these ridiculous salaries and golden handshakes have to stop now?My question is who should We have as CEO of Royal Mail? Can any one think of the right person?

knackeredneedadayoff · Post by **knackeredneedadayoff** » 02 May 2020, 15:43

new ceo on his way

poisonpostie · Post by **poisonpostie** » 02 May 2020, 16:14

knackeredneedadayoff wrote:new ceo on his way

I think he looks a bit to clever to run royal mail (brilliant post by the way)

Whysoslowyehcfc · Post by **Whysoslowyehcfc** » 02 May 2020, 16:39

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k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 03 May 2020, 01:57

No Globalisation is here to stay for this is why we are in the situation we all all find ourselves in the rich will get richer the poor will get poorer and DIE it is only when when re reevaluate the whole economy who

is worth saving and those who's boots can be filled by mere CEO's who don't contribute but are a drain on this nation!

Celgar · Post by **Celgar** » 03 May 2020, 09:11

Rico Back hasn't done a good job of running RM from both a business and workers point of view. His latest idea is likely to blow up in his face tomorrow when we all have two or more days worth of letters plus parcels and maybe parcel backlogs to deal with. It is only a matter of time before major shareholders start to call for his head as they have done in the past with the terrible higher executive staff who were clearly just lining their own pockets in addition to doing a poor job.

GRS · Post by **GRS** » 03 May 2020, 09:30

Celgar wrote:Rico Back hasn't done a good job of running RM from both a business and workers point of view. His latest idea is likely to blow up in his face tomorrow when we all have two or more days worth of letters plus parcels and maybe parcel backlogs to deal with. It is only a matter of time before major shareholders start to call for his head as they have done in the past with the terrible higher executive staff who were clearly just lining their own pockets in addition to doing a poor job.

IMO this is the biggest hope we have. Many see striking as the only way forward but that itself brings its own dangers especially with the current CEO in charge. I see our best way forward as ( and I don’t know how this would work or is possible) pressure put onto shareholders to dispose of RIco Back whilst CWU members remove Terry Pullinger and Dave Ward from their positions. The poisonous relationship these people have with each other is tearing the company apart and I’m sure that all their focus is on beating the other rather than what is best for the company’s and workforces future. A fresh start at the top of both organisations may be the best way to focus minds.

Post by **rambo1** » 05 May 2020, 22:31

I remember most on here calling Moya, .....and then we got Rico! Moya wasn't perfect but did a better job of it than Rico is doing. We may get someone even, dare I say it, worse, than Rico.

GRS · Post by **GRS** » 06 May 2020, 08:09

rambo1 wrote:I remember most on here calling Moya, .....and then we got Rico! Moya wasn't perfect but did a better job of it than Rico is doing. We may get someone even, dare I say it, worse, than Rico.

Moya Greene was terrible. It was her who came up with that ridiculous phrase that got peddled out every team brief “ managing the decline of the business”.What the hell was that all about..... I don’t even know if she knew the logic behind it or understood it, it just sounded good..... one of those jazzy sound bites that idiotic business people like to make up and regurgitate at every opportunity. What right minded person manages a decline of a business? You grow a business, make it stronger, let it and its people thrive. Manage the decline my arse...... what a load of modern day bollocks talk!!