NHS bureaucrats on the rise as nursing numbers fall

THE number of bureaucrats hired by the NHS has soared, while the number of nurses fell, official figures show.

The statistics show a 7 per cent rise in the number of senior managers on the NHS payroll in one year, at a time of growing nurse shortages.

The total number of managers rose to 32,000, the statistics show, a rise of almost one quarter in four years.

The sharpest rise was among senior managers, whose pay normally starts at £65,000 a year. The 7 per cent rise in one year saw their total numbers reach 10,300, the figures from NHS Digital show.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said it was “galling” to see senior management becoming the fastest growing part of the NHS, at a time when the number of nurses and health visitors fell by 0.2 per cent.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We have record numbers of dedicated front line staff working in the NHS and there are actually over 4,900 fewer managers compared to 2010.

“The NHS has been recognised as one of the most efficient health systems in the world, but we will continue to work with NHS Trusts to cut bureaucracy and red tape even further.”

Janet Davies, RCN chief executive, said patients were being denied vital care amid a shortage of 40,000 nurses.

She said: “It feels to front line nursing staff that, in a cash-strapped NHS, they have become an easy target for cuts. It will be galling when they see senior management burgeoning too – now officially the fastest growing part of the NHS.

“Against a backdrop of modest boosts to medical professions – in a bid to keep pace with soaring demand – nursing is shrinking. All the while, nurses are responsible for the vast majority of handson patient care – standards rise and fall with the number of nurses.”