HEALTH services in Greater Manchester have seen an explosion in the number of bureaucrats over the last seven years, the Manchester Evening News can reveal today.
An investigation by the M.E.N. found that since Tony Blair came to power in 1997, the number of NHS penpushers has risen by more than 84 per cent - compared to a 20 per cent rise in the number of doctors. Nationally in the NHS, the rise in managers is running at 67 per cent while the number of doctors has increased by 27 per cent.
The actual number of managers has increased from 903 to 1,687, but not all work full-time. Doctor numbers have risen from 5,322 to 6,395 in the same 1997-2004 period, some of these also work part-time.
Health bosses insist a significant number of managers are needed to run a modern health service and doctors still make up the bulk of the NHS.
Targets
They say that extra managers have improved waiting times and helped them exceed targets to get record star ratings across the region this year.
But the figures have angered medical staff in a region where vacancy rates for medics are at a high after new European rules limited the number of hours doctors could work, forcing hospitals to recruit extra staff. Managers still only represent 3 per cent of the Greater Manchester NHS workforce but local British Medical Association (BMA) representative, Dr Kailash Chand, says that the government's focus on getting managers to achieve targets is at the expense of patient care.
The Ashton-under-Lyne GP said: "In 1997, Tony Blair promised to give power and resources to the frontline of the NHS. But instead managers have been recruited to meet targets and money has gone to bureaucrats. It has not been value for money for patients.
"The increase in doctors over the years has done nothing to plug the gap. The increase in GP numbers is nothing - it's peanuts. There are currently GP shortages in Tameside, Rochdale, Bury and Oldham. We need a 30 per cent increase in doctor numbers just to get to basic standards."
Dr JS Bamrah, chair of the BMA North West consultants and specialists branch, said: "I think that we should question whether so many managers has added extra value to the NHS - I think that remains to be established.
"There is a huge shortage of doctors. Even the international recruitment of doctors has not been successful. But there is certainly a good case for high quality managers in the NHS."
John Williams, from the Greater Manchester Strategic Health Authority, said that the number of managers had risen because the dissolution of various regional health bodies has brought more managers under the umbrella of Greater Manchester SHA.
Reclassification
He said: "It is important to understand that the percentage of management in the health service is still below three per cent. There has been an increase in management, but this is a reclassification of jobs, with the creation of primary care trusts and Department of Health functions have shifted into the Strategic Health Authority.
"We believe that the health economy is significantly better off than it was in the mid 90s, in performance targets, star ratings, waiting lists. Greater Manchester has now become a high performing strategic health authority for the first time."
Opposition politicians say the statistics are proof that the government is concentrating on achieving targets, rather than increasing doctors to help more patients.
A Conservative Party spokesman said: "The ratio of management to staff is indicative of Mr Blair's government which is driven by targets and bureaucracy. In contrast, the Conservatives will recruit doctors and nurses instead of simply more managers."
A Labour Party spokesman said: "We have to be careful as to what we define as bureaucrats. Many managers and senior managers are the backbone of NHS services. They make sure our hospitals tick over every day. Grades included would be porter managers, people in non-clinical positions without whom hospitals would not function.
"The Labour Party wants to see more doctors and nurses. There are more doctors, nurses and consultants in Greater Manchester area since 1997, but there is more to be done."
The Lib Dems were unavailable for comment.
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I could have told anyone this, without any specific research beyond my own eyes. Since I started in the NHS in the 80s, I have seen an explosion in managers, with strange titles, and nothing apparent to say what they really do. Meanwhile, as a nurse, I am working with a dwindling amount of frontline staff, and the situation is getting worse.
Despite this scandalous situation, he looks like being re-elected again - who says you can't fool all of the people all of the time. Labour have added 1.4 million to the Public Sector payroll since they came to power - and this is making the country far too reliant on this non-income generating sector. It also puts more pressure on those in the private sector who must work even harder to pay for them and their generous pensions. it can only be building up massive problems for the future in my view.
My daughter is one of these "penpushers". She works ten hours a day looking after patient bookings and comes home shattered. Give her a chance. Its about time the paper and the doctors stopped wingeing.
Harry, it sounds like your daughter is one of the hard-working minority in the public sector. Most of the govt vacancies I see in the papers these dates clearly state a 37 hour week.
I work in the NHS and I am sick and tired of newspapers having a go at managers. I am totally committed to my role and regularly work a ten or 12 hour day - as a manager I don't get paid overtime. Its about time the media stopped taking cheapshots at people like me and my colleagues who work so hard. Recruitment of doctors and GPs is a problem across the country - that is why the numbers of GPs recruited hasn't increased. In fact, it is the "pen pushers" as you call them, that in may cases have come up with the solutions to the problems of staff shortages and have pushed for the continuous improvement of health services that we are all benefiting from. There are over 71,000 people working in the NHS in Greater Manchester - that means that there is 0.02 of a manager for every health care professional.
Shame on you MEN - speaking as one of the many "bureaucrats" who are working long hours causing ill health and experiencing pressures on home life in order to do the best for the patients in Manchester.
Yet again the media applies generality and issues a story designed to incite Joe Public into thinking public services only exist to serve themselves.
Many who are called "managers" have clinical roles or directly interface with patients so the true picture is not anywhere near what you portray.
In any event, you should be supporting all NHS staff whatever their role, not making those who aren't clinicians feel undervalued.
I may not be a doctor or nurse but I know my role in supporting and ensuring patients get top quality patient care.
And we would recruit more clinical staff if they were there to recruit from - there are simply not enough to go round. We are trying to address this problem but it will take time. The BMA know this full well.
Anyone with eyes in their head that has anything to do with NHS hospitals has realised the explosion in, for the most part, unessential penpushers. We're not talking here of the people on reception who book patients in and out, but the people behind the scenes who basically do very little, get paid large salaries for doing this very little and bonuses to boot.
Both the Tories and Labour are to blame for this state of affairs, and I can't believe that a Tory is badmouthing the Labour party of the number of these penpushers, as it was the Tory party that started the whole sorry mess off.
As cheapshots go this has to be one of the cheapest. The managers I know work long hours because they believe in the NHS. And when anything goes wroing, who gets the blame? The managers. You can't have it both ways.
EVEN if the politically motivated Dr Chand and his pals have been fair in designating so called management and clinical staff properly, we have a situation of four or five clinical staff to every manager. How many journalists are there to every manager and clerical worker on your own paper? At a guess it'll be the other way round! Stop carping and support our NHS and Labour investment in it.
Does any one know of a GP practice that has more Doctors than support staff.
I work 14-16 hours, get assaulted and abused by patients and relatives and get poor pay as a support worker. I come home shattered, most people who work for the NHS do, but I'd like to know how much these pen pushers get. It annoys me when you go to hospitals and look at the cars infront of the admin block with reserved spaces for the 'suits'. You don't see clapped out old fiestas that dont look road worthy. No, you see flash BMW's and Jaguars and other really flash expensive cars. So please, tell me, why do Admin staff get a hell of alot more pay than the people who are the real work force. The medical staff. We aren't appreciated at all. The 'suits' try to make out they care but they don't really. Just talk down to you. Not all managers are bad but most of the ones I have to deal with are. They seem to have a power problem and also alot have never even worked as medical staff. It's managers like that that don't understand what the NHS is about. It's a service, not a buisness. Let us get on with what we go to work for, to treat people!