By Jaimie Kaffash
26 March 2010
There has been an 84% increase in the number of managers in the NHS over the past ten years, figures released by the NHS Information Centre have shown.
The statistics, released on March 25, revealed that there were almost 45,000 NHS managers in 2009, which represented a rise of 12% on the previous year. Overall staffing had increased by 30% on 1999 levels, reaching a record high of 1.43 million.
The increase in the number of managers was far bigger proportionally than that of professionally qualified clinical staff. There were 725,000 clinical staff as of 2009, which was 30% higher than in 1999.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Although there has been a large percentage rise in the number of managers, overall they make up just 3.5% of the NHS workforce.
He said that the increase in manager staffing levels helped achieve ‘financial turnaround, record low waiting times, improved access to care and the lowest ever rate of health care associated infections’.
However, he added: ‘The NHS must continue to improve patient care, generating efficiency savings by reducing management and back-office costs, and implementing new ways of working.
'That is why it was announced in December, through the Operating Framework, that the NHS will reduce management costs by 30% by 2013/14.'
Doctors criticised the increase. Dr Keith Brent, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s consultants’ committee said that the figures were damning when compared with the increase in numbers of ‘overstretched’ nurses – 24% over the past decade. ‘Many of the additional managerial staff have been employed to help the NHS deal with the increasing bureaucracy and fragmentation that have accompanied greater competition, with little or no evidence of benefit to patients,’ he added.
He welcomed the expansion in professionally qualified clinical staff numbers, which has been ‘instrumental in driving up quality and cutting waiting times’.
NHS Confederation chief executive Steve Barnett said the Operating Framework’s target of 30% cuts in administrative functions ‘is a tough one’, and added: ‘It needs to be implemented in a flexible way, since an across-the-board cut will hit more efficient organisations harder than less lean ones. It is an important reflection of the nation’s financial situation and is an aspiration that can and should be met.’
26 March 2010
There has been an 84% increase in the number of managers in the NHS over the past ten years, figures released by the NHS Information Centre have shown.
The statistics, released on March 25, revealed that there were almost 45,000 NHS managers in 2009, which represented a rise of 12% on the previous year. Overall staffing had increased by 30% on 1999 levels, reaching a record high of 1.43 million.
The increase in the number of managers was far bigger proportionally than that of professionally qualified clinical staff. There were 725,000 clinical staff as of 2009, which was 30% higher than in 1999.
A Department of Health spokesman said: ‘Although there has been a large percentage rise in the number of managers, overall they make up just 3.5% of the NHS workforce.
He said that the increase in manager staffing levels helped achieve ‘financial turnaround, record low waiting times, improved access to care and the lowest ever rate of health care associated infections’.
However, he added: ‘The NHS must continue to improve patient care, generating efficiency savings by reducing management and back-office costs, and implementing new ways of working.
'That is why it was announced in December, through the Operating Framework, that the NHS will reduce management costs by 30% by 2013/14.'
Doctors criticised the increase. Dr Keith Brent, deputy chair of the British Medical Association’s consultants’ committee said that the figures were damning when compared with the increase in numbers of ‘overstretched’ nurses – 24% over the past decade. ‘Many of the additional managerial staff have been employed to help the NHS deal with the increasing bureaucracy and fragmentation that have accompanied greater competition, with little or no evidence of benefit to patients,’ he added.
He welcomed the expansion in professionally qualified clinical staff numbers, which has been ‘instrumental in driving up quality and cutting waiting times’.
NHS Confederation chief executive Steve Barnett said the Operating Framework’s target of 30% cuts in administrative functions ‘is a tough one’, and added: ‘It needs to be implemented in a flexible way, since an across-the-board cut will hit more efficient organisations harder than less lean ones. It is an important reflection of the nation’s financial situation and is an aspiration that can and should be met.’
