NHS Underestimates Employee Figures By 200,000

When the previous government outsourced some of the NHS’s back office services (e.g. patient records) to the private sector, the government believed it employed 1.3 million people in the NHS. After the private IT companies started collating the information that they needed to implement the new IT structures and systems they discovered that the NHS actually employed 1.5 million people.
That means that there were 200,000 people on the NHS payroll that hadn’t been accounted for. To put this in context, Tesco (the third largest food retailer in the world) employ £250,000 in the UK.
This goes some way to explaining why the NHS has become a financial blackhole. Staff costs are by far the highest single cost in the NHS. How can accurate forecasts for patient services and future fiscal plans be made when the government doesn’t know how many people they employ?

The Britsh CBT & Counselling Service

The Most Dramatic Changes in NHS in 60yrs

Up until recently Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) were in control of NHS budgets, deciding where and how money was spent thus determining the quality and level of service that the public received for both their physical and psychological health.
On 21.01.11 the government announced that PCTs were to be abolished and their control handed to GPs. The idea behind this (and one that many GPs agree with) is that GP’s position in the healthcare chain (i.e. on the front line) places them in a better position to determine how funds are allocated. However, some GPs fear that their position on the front line means that they will not have the capacity to take on this new responsibility. What is certain is that this is a genuine change in how resources are distributed and a change is without doubt necessary. However is this a change in the right direction?

The Britsh CBT & Counselling Service