A HEALTH campaigner has attacked a decision to employ a new health chairman in east Cheshire, at a cost of up to £1,000 a day.

The role of independent chairman for the Caring Together programme board, which was advertised in The Times newspaper, comes as the Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group struggles with a £24m deficit.

The role for which the final interviews took place last week is for a chairman on an annual salary of £25,000 for two or three days per month.

If the chairman attends twice a month the remuneration would amount to £1,041 per day and if he/she attended 36 per days per year it would amount to an average of £694 per day.

Campaigner Charlotte Peters Rock, Cheshire Area for Cheshire Action, from Allostock, said: "Can the local public health and care purse really stand yet another supernumerary, when it has a collapsing local hospital, no services to speak of in the Knutsford area, closure of day and respite and children’s centres, and pockets of gravely shortened lives in Crewe, Macclesfield and other areas?"

The Caring Together programme was established in 2013 by the commissioners and providers of health and social care services in Eastern Cheshire as a commitment to working in partnership to radically reshape the delivery of care to our population and improve health outcomes.

Charlotte added: "Why can’t the chairmanship be a shared function between the main ‘responsible persons’ who are already in our local public employment, within Caring Together

"We do not need to be throwing money and reputation away on figureheads, unless they are to be a hard working, positive benefit to the paying public."

A spokesman for Eastern Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group said the new chairman would consolidate improvements and accelerate the progress of other planned changes across 30 different organisations.

The percentage of people aged 65 or over was growing faster in Eastern Cheshire than in any other part of the north west, with the consequence that Eastern Cheshire care economy is forecast to have cumulative debt of approximately £140m within three years unless it changes the way it operates.

The spokesman explained: "Accordingly, the recruitment of an independent chair was agreed unanimously by Caring Together partners."

He added"The independent, experienced leadership of the post holder will ensure that the interests of patients and residents are put before the interests of single organisations.

"This investment is expected to be repaid many times by the efficiency savings projected to arise from the integration of health and social care services."

"We believe that the appointment will consolidate these improvements and accelerate the progress of other planned changes."