Press release: NHS Confederation responds to Centre for Policy Studies report

02 Dec 2003

The NHS Confederation challenges key claims in a Centre for Policy Studies report on NHS management, published today.
Responding to the report, 'Managing not to Manage' [2], Dr Gill Morgan, Chief Executive of the NHS Confederation said: "The report rightly recognises that good management is key to delivering consistently high quality care for patients. Parts of the report's analysis begin to recognise the challenge this represents.
"However, the assertion that the quality of management is poor is contradicted by evidence from independent organisations which have found that NHS managers are just as effective as their private sector counterparts.[3]"
The Confederation is disappointed that the report fuels the popular prejudice that there are excessive numbers of NHS managers. This is deeply misleading when the Audit Commission's review of the NHS Plan found that 'even well-established organisations are finding their management resources thinly spread.' [4]Management costs have fallen as a percentage of the overall NHS budget to 4p in every £1 of NHS expenditure.[5]
Responding to the report's comments about reporting requirements in the health service, Dr Morgan said: "Government has already recognised the need to reduce what it admits has been excessive Whitehall control over the day-to-day management of the NHS. Progress is already being made in streamlining the reporting regime. But we agree that there is more to be done to ensure NHS managers can focus on improving services for patients, not reporting in to the centre."
Dr Morgan added: "The report's anecdotal evidence of a service in decline is contradicted by recent comprehensive reviews by independent organisations such as the Nuffield Trust, Audit Commission and CHI, which paint a picture of steady improvement [6]. Many of the recommendations it makes are already underway."

ENDS

Notes for editors

1. The NHS Confederation represents the organisations that make up the NHS. Our members include the majority of NHS trusts, primary care trusts and health authorities in England; trusts and local health boards in Wales; trusts and NHS boards in Scotland; and health and social service trusts and boards in Northern Ireland. 
2. Centre for Policy Studies, December 2003 
3. Hay Consultancy Group and Professor Beverley Alimo-Metcalfe, Professor for Leadership Studies, University of Leeds, Engage Employees and Boost Performance and Top Teams: Why some work out and some do not, both reports 2002. 
4. Achieving the NHS Plan, the Audit Commission, June 2003 
5. Statistics from the Department of Health, June 2003 
6. The Quest for Quality in the NHS, Nuffield Trust, December 2003; Achieving the NHS Plan, the Audit Commission, June 2003; Getting Better, Commission for Health Improvement, May 2003
   

Contact details

1. Contact Media Relations Manager Joanna Clason on 020 7074 3306 or 07798 571078 or Senior Media Officer Amy Darlington on 020 7074 3304 or 07767 770309. For out of hours media enquiries, please call the Duty Press Officer on 07880 500726.
   

Back to media centre