A RECRUITMENT agency was paid £21,000 for the appointment of the temporary chief executive at the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General hospitals, in what one campaigner has called a ‘slap in the face’ for frontline staff.

Data obtained by the Lancashire Telegraph has revealed the amount that East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) paid to Hunter Healthcare for the services of respected interim chief Jim Birrell, who was in charge of the troubled trust from January to September this year.

Reported by the Lancashire Telegraph. You can read the full story here.

I am a journalist and author. I am a journalist at the UK edition of WIRED magazine. In 2015, my first book Freedom of Information: A Practical Guide for UK Journalists, was published. My second book Reed Hastings: Building Netflix, was published in March 2020. I created FOI Directory in 2012 and have maintained it in my spare time ever since.