Wanted: experienced captains of industry, civil servants or executives to face “an unparalleled challenge in terms of scale and complexity”.

The Department of Health has invited applications for director of the £12.4 billion overhaul of National Health Service computer systems, formerly the highest-paid job in Whitehall. The previous head of the project, Richard Granger, earned £270,000 to £285,000 a year - roughly 50 per cent more than the Prime Minister.

Mr Granger, a former management consultant, resigned as Director-General, NHS IT, last year after five years. But the Government is splitting his job into two, costing the taxpayer potentially 40 per cent more in managerial wage bills for the project. The Department is creating the posts of chief information officer (CIO) for health as well as a director of IT programme and system delivery, each advertised with salaries of about £200,000. Combined, the two jobs are equivalent to Mr Granger’s former position, on increased wages, which critics labelled an “abuse of taxpayers’ money”.

Some IT experts question whether it is even possible to manage effectively an unwieldy project such as the National Programme for IT (NPfIT).

The programme, now in its sixth year, is reputed to be the largest nonmilitary IT project in the world, but is running up to two years behind schedule in places.

Although patients are already benefiting from some improvements, such as fast NHS broadband connections and digital X-rays, other key areas - such as the the creation of an electronic medical records database for 50 million patients, and an online booking system for hospital appointments - are still experiencing delays.

The latest version of the “Choose and Book” software for hospital appointments was withdrawn rapidly last week when it was discovered that the system was sending booking information to the wrong patients, while only two of the 152 primary care trusts in England have managed to upload their patient records to “the Spine”, as the centralised database is known.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the lobby group TaxPayers’ Alliance, said yesterday that the changes to the NPfIT’s management structure were a tacit admission by the Government that administering it “was far too big for just one person”.

“Top-flight civil servants already cost taxpayers a huge amount in salaries and pensions, so a further increase is an unwelcome addition to that burden,” he added. “The direct, centralised management of the NHS is a massive task that no individual can seriously manage, and that flawed structure has undoubtedly contributed to the disastrous mismanagement of large-scale NHS projects. Centralisation has created a behemoth that is simply unmanageable – and patients and taxpayers are paying the price.”

Stephen O’Brien, the Shadow Health Minister, added: “How can ministers justify this abuse of taxpayers’ money? “With the NHS IT programme behind schedule and over budget, [the Department of Health] is throwing good money after bad.”

In a statement, the department said: “These two roles have emerged from the ongoing NHS Informatics strategy Review. One individual is responsible and accountable for the vision, linking with policy, and also the strategic leadership, and one is focused working in partnership with the NHS in the delivery of [IT] programmes.”

The job description for a future CIO adds: “With a budget for the NHS of c £90 billion and a major reform programme under way and providing results, the Department of Health presents an unparalleled challenge in terms of scale and complexity.

“The delivery of the information strategy for the health and social care system of England is of fundamental importance to the reform agenda.” The Government’s three-year pay offer to health workers has been rejected by the Royal College of Midwives and by Unite, the third-largest NHS union. Unison, the largest NHS union, has made no recommendation to its members.

Public Sector Rich List

£138,724* Cabinet minister* (includes parliamentary salary of £61,820)

£189,994* Gordon Brown, Prime Minister

£132,317* David Cameron, Leader of the Opposition

£285,000 Richard Granger, former director-general of NHS IT

£400,000 The estimated combined salaries of new chief information officer and director of IT programme and system delivery at Department of Health; “exact package to be negotiated and agreed with the successful candidates”. Managerial wage bills for the project could go up by 40 per cent

Sources: Parliament; Department of Health; TaxPayers Alliance

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