London, September 25, 2002
SocietyGuardian
Chai Patel trained as a doctor but his business nous
has helped him become one of the best paid chief executives
in private healthcare. David Batty reports
One of New Labour's favourite health gurus, Chai
Patel is also one of the highest earners in the independent
healthcare sector.
The 47-year-old, who has advised the prime minister's
office on private sector involvement in the NHS, took
home £443,000 last year as chief executive of
Westminster Health Care (WHC); he has since left the
company.
A keen supporter of public-private partnerships,
he recently told the Observer: "The public is
increasingly dissatisfied with many of our public
services. The private sector has been creating great
change and expanding capacity.
"I don't see why we should not talk to the government
about healthcare in the same way as people talk to
them about providing telecoms services."
A former member of the Department of Health taskforce
for older people, the millionaire businessman has
been forced to step down as a government adviser on
the elderly, as well as from the board of Help the
Aged, following a report into one of his former company's
nursing homes.
Dr Patel qualified as a doctor, but worked as a City
banker before going on to found three private healthcare
companies.
His salary is more than double that of his highest-paid
NHS counterpart, Dr Jonathan Michael of Guy's and
St Thomas NHS trust, who earned £171,000 in
2001 - despite the fact that the NHS trust's turnover
(£441m) is nearly twice that of WHC (£250m).
This reflects a wider trend in the private sector
for chief executives to receive a higher proportion
of their organisations' turnover than their counterparts
in public services. On average, last year private
companies spent £2.50 on chief executives' salaries
for every £1,000 of their turnover, while NHS
trusts spent £1.
For example, Malcolm Hughes, chief executive of private
dental care provider Oasis healthcare, earned £120,000
in 2001. This equates to 1.6% of the company's £8.9m
turnover used for his salary.
In contrast Dr Anton Obholzer, chief executive of
the Tavistock and Portman NHS trust, earned £85,000
- or about 0.7% of the organisation's £13m turnover.
The highest earning chief executive of the private
healthcare companies surveyed by SocietyGuardian.co.uk
were Justin Jewitt who took home £491,000 in
2001, followed by Val Gooding of Bupa, whose salary
was £446,000.
Currently Dr Patel is chief executive of Priory Healthcare,
best known for the plush Roehampton hospital near
Richmond Park, which provides a refuge for troubled
celebrities.
A management buyout of the Priory group, together
with the sale of Westminster's care homes, should
net him a bonus of £8m this year.
However, he is keenly aware of public concern about
the role of the private sector in delivering NHS care.
He told the Observer: "Making profits out of
healthcare is still an emotional issue.
"This is compounded by a culture that is primarily
inward-and-upward-focused, delivering on short-term
expediencies and bedevilled with organisational constraints.
Public servants are left hugely frustrated and demoralised."
