NHS advertises £700,000's worth of diversity officer roles in just a month!

Cash-strapped NHS bosses advertised hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of diversity roles in just one month, it was revealed today.

Sixteen vacancies for diversity, equality, inclusion and wellbeing officers were put online by trusts in England and Wales in October.

The roles have a combined annual salary of more than £700,000. For comparison, the same cash could pay for six GPs, 19 nurses or 20 paramedics.

With the NHS backlog spiralling to 7million, there is 'no excuse for resources to be wasted', they said.

It comes amid the never-ending NHS crisis, which has seen ambulance, emergency department and cancer performances plummet to record lows in recent months.

But two of the jobs have short-term contracts of less than a year, meaning the actual total cost to the health service is £644,415.

Jobs included a five-month stint as an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Specialist at the Black Country Integrated Care Board in Wolverhampton, which paid an annualised salary of £77,274 (£32,198 for five months).

Key tasks include ensuring that EDI is 'central' to all work across local NHS organisations and ensure colleagues have the 'knowledge and skills' to be 'champions of inclusion'.

Meanwhile, Manchester University Trust is hiring a Group Associate Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, which comes with a £63,862 salary.

And a £55,049-per-year Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement Manager is being sought by the Royal Free London Trust.

The East Midlands Ambulance Service is looking for a Wellbeing and Inclusion Advisor, who will pocket £32,934 per year.

Meanwhile, more than 7million people in England waiting for routine NHS ops such as hip and knee replacements.

It marks the highest total since NHS records began in 2007. Almost 390,000 patients have been forced to endure year-long waits for their treatment, often while in serious pain.

In the past year, an average of nearly 257,500 inpatient treatments, including hip and knee replacements, have been performed each month – roughly 12 per cent lower than the year before the pandemic.