A debt-ridden NHS health board has been slammed for hiring a diversity chief on a hefty salary despite serving a 97 per cent white population.
Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board, which serves the communities of Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Bridgend in south Wales, is seeking an ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Practitioner’ on £53,602 per year for 37.5 hours work a week.
The job, which involves ‘creating and embedding compassionate, just and equitable EDI solutions in a collaborative, dynamic and complex environment’, comes with 33 days off a year (plus bank holidays) and a massive employer's contribution of 20.68 per cent to your pension amongst a slew of other perks.
But concerns have been raised over the necessity of the diversity champion given the fact the population served by the health board is one of the least diverse in Britain.
Critics have blasted the NHS for investing million in DEI initiatives while waiting lists spiral
PAAccording to latest Census data, 450,000 people live in Bridgend, Merthyr Tydfiland Rhondda Cynon Taf, with each area identifying as 96.7 per cent, 97.1 per cent and 96.8 per cent ‘white’ respectively.
That averages to 96.9 per cent white, meaning of a population of 450,000, just 13,950 people describe themselves as not white.
Concerns have also been raised over whether the health board should be using taxpayer money to fund the job when it is in dire straits financially.
According to the latest audit of Wales’ Health Boards, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board has a three-year deficit of -£24million, meaning it has spent £24million more than it has received.
Ethnic breakdown: Bridgend
Ethnic breakdown: Bridgend
ONS
Ethnic breakdown: Rhondda Cynon Taf
Ethnic breakdown: Rhondda Cynon Taf
ONS
Ethnic breakdown: Merthyr Tydfil
Ethnic breakdown: Merthyr Tydfil
ONS
The Cwm Taf Board is not alone here. All seven of Wales’ Labour-run Health Boards are running large deficits, prompting sharp criticism from the Auditor General Adrian Crompton.
He said: “The growing cumulative deficit for the NHS in Wales demonstrates that despite record levels of investment and higher than ever levels of savings, the statutory framework put in place by the Welsh Government to drive financial sustainability in the NHS is not working.
“Whilst there remains an urgent need for NHS bodies to continue to drive out cost inefficiencies in the way they work, this alone is unlikely to return the NHS to financial balance.”
The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Practitioner’s £53,602 salary is nearly double the average salary in Merthyr Tydfil (£27,852) and £21,231 higher than Wales’ average (£32,371).
Other perks include a generous cycle to work scheme, a car lease scheme, home technology scheme, flexible working hours, wellbeing services, relocation assistance, fitness discounts and a blue light card.
Map of Wales' Health BoardsWales NHSAuditor General Crompton continued: “More fundamental challenges now need to be grasped around the shape and infrastructure of the NHS, the level of funding it needs, its workforce challenges and how the demand for its services can be better managed.
“These are issues that should exercise the minds of politicians, government officials and NHS bodies and their partners in equal measure.”
Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, James Evans MS said: “This is a very unwise use of taxpayers’ money, particularly given that waiting lists in the Welsh NHS remain near record levels after 26 years of Labour.
“Wales needs more doctors and nurses, not more DEI appointments.
“The Welsh Conservatives will review and root out wasteful spending in the Welsh NHS so that it can be directed towards the frontline where it is desperately needed.”
It comes after FoI data revealed Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board paid out £115million in clinical negligence claims in the last ten years, including £9 million last year.
Claims made to the health board include botched operations, diagnosis delays, failures to identify infection and treatment errors.
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Wales NHS Health Boards and how much taxpayer money they've paid out in clinical negligence last yearGBN/ChatGPTLabour’s running of the NHS in Wales has been singled out as a reason Welsh voters appear to be abandoning Starmer’s party for the first time since 1922.
The Celtic Nation has backed Labour for 28 consecutive General Elections and every Senedd (Welsh Parliament election) since its foundation in 1999.
But latest polling puts Reform neck and neck with Labour which, under the Senedd’s new fully proportional voting system, would see them win the same number of seats as Labour and become the joint biggest party.
The Welsh Labour Government and the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board have been approached for comment.
Welsh elections are due in May 2026.
