NHS execs collar £2.6bn

Thes figures are published freely in NHS accounts so the use of the Freedom of Information Act was not necessary to access already in the public domain.
The majority of the organisations listed are actually mental health organisations and most of your readers would be surprised that significant numbers of doctors and nurses are classified as "pen pushers". The definition is so abstruse that even when services are contracted out an element of these costs have to be treated as management costs.
What is a scandal is so many organisations have to pay excessive rates to agencies to provide nursing staff, many of whom are not entitled to work in this country. In addition are excessive fees for "consultancy" services with companies charging up to £1000 per day plus accommodation and travel costs for posts which would attract less than this per week for an employee.
As for the consultant with poor admin it is probably their own secretary supporting their private practice.

By pseudonym.. Posted May 10 2009 at 6:25 PM.

two years ago there was a reconfiguration of the then 32 ambulance services in England into 11 new services. This was suppose to cut down on management costs with the savings being put to frontline services. It is therefore suprising that 3 of these new services are in your top 10

By bill jones.. Posted May 5 2009 at 9:24 PM.

I have been a Paramedic with the London Ambulance Service for 14 years, we have seen a fold on fold increase in managers within the service.
Every Director has an assistant, and these assistants have an assistant.
More and more pathetic jobs are being created for managers and yet we (road staff) still have no personal radios.

By william iggy.. Posted May 4 2009 at 9:23 PM.

I have worked in the NHS for three decades and have always wondered why all this time penpushers are overpaid and overated ,all they do is clicked their fingers and command everyone else to perform better while they sit on their backside like fat cats.poor nurses,doctors ,social workers and other floor workers have to perform at breaking point for a measly salary;when we lookk at what politicians are claiming as perks of the job,we can understand why they did nothing to improve the NHS for recipients of services ,its like a conspiracy of the fat cats.

By jaya kathrecha.. Posted May 3 2009 at 11:18 PM.

I think that what people fail to realise that it is everyone working at the NHS from Porters to Consultants that make things happen and ensure an ongoing productive service. Without one element of the team things would be disrupted and they often are due to cost cutting. The doctors and nurses dont have time to make appointments, type referrals and clinic notes. They also dont have the time or expertise to manage the admin and clerical staff and the business side of the NHS as this is not their job. So I find this article slightly ridiculous, if the NHS spent less money on admin then the Doctors and Nurses would have to spend more time doing their own admin and less time seeing patients etc.

By BF.. Posted May 3 2009 at 1:01 PM.

I like my NHS Consultant very much, however, she has an horrific service from her admin team and because she doesn't type or use a computer, everything takes her weeks and weeks to do - writing letters and making referrals etc. She has to dictate letters into a maching, send it to the typists, check it for errors, send it back, etc - it usually takes her about 3 months to actually get the letter sent out. This is very distressing as a patient and frustrating to witness. If only she could make referrals by way of an email or internal NHS intranet she could probably just punch in my NHS no. to a correct dept and whizz off a quick 2 line email. If she could type it wouldn't encroach on her personal time any further than it already does to dictate the letters, correct them, etc. Plus when they do get done they're always so badly typed the mind boggles as to what type of admin service she has anyway. The woman who makes her appointments is so rubbish she takes charge of most of it herself and trying to communicate with her 'back up team' is like banging your head on a brick wall. I really feel sorry for the poor woman but an effective admin and internal liaison system needs to be implemented within the NHS. Also, don't even get me started on the lack of confidentiality......... :-(

By Real.. Posted May 3 2009 at 11:23 AM.