'High quality' NHS management should be valued
 The number of managers in the NHS has reduced by 6.5 per cent since 2005 – yet there is still a common perception that the NHS is full of faceless bureaucrats. This is according to a new report from the NHS Confederation, Management in the NHS: the facts, which aims to dispel some of these myths.
Just 2.7 per cent of the 1.3 million strong NHS workforce are managers compared with nurses who make up more than a quarter, and doctors who account for 10 per cent. According to the Department of Health, the proportion of managers in the NHS is significantly lower than in the private sector or indeed other public sector organisations.
Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the NHS Confederation said: “As the fourth largest organisation in the world, employing 1.3 million staff with an annual budget of around £90 billion, you would expect high quality management to be valued. Yet, NHS managers are often derided and criticised by the media and politicians.
“It is important that managers are supported in what is a very complex and challenging role – not unnecessarily condemned and criticised because they are the easy target.”
He concluded that more investment in senior leadership in the NHS was vital in order to continue to attract management talent to the service, saying: “Increasingly, NHS organisations are finding it difficult to recruit people to the top jobs because of the pressure and exposed position people find themselves in.
“From politicians to the NHS itself, we need to take collective action to ensure that our managers are supported in their important roles of running local NHS organisations and delivering excellent healthcare services to patients and the public.”
Management in the NHS
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