'Equality czar' to cost NHS £95,000

The row over the explosion in numbers of NHS managers deepened today after health chiefs unveiled plans to appoint a £95,000-a-year "equality czar".

The Department of Health is advertising for a "high-flier" to help rid the NHS of racial discrimination and gender bias.

The successful candidate is expected to act as a "human rights champion" throughout the health service.

The new role is being created in an effort to address claims that the NHS is "institutionally racist". But the generous salary - enough for at least three extra nurses - will fuel concerns over the explosion in the number of NHS bureaucrats.

Opposition politicians reacted with dismay today, condemning the new appointment as a waste of taxpayers' money.

They claimed the £95,000 would be better spent on frontline care.