During my 2nd post with the NHS,
we had a team of consultant in to, umm, pad about the place and, err, no, that was it. Not medical consultant, management consultants (just the kind that a hospital needs).
Chatting to one of these consultants, over lunch, he came clean and admitted that what he was engaged in was utter bullshit, and that the Trust were basically paying him money for nothing. He seemed rather pleased with himself.

Having stayed within the health service, I've seen any number of consultancy firms come in and do their thing. I've yet to see any evidence of them actually doing anything other than extracting money.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:30, 8 replies)

Someone was telling me a while back.
That the NHS pretty much only has a budget for consultants these days. When you inevitably overspend, you have to get a consultant in at the tune of a grand a day who will look at the accounts and say "yeah, you should spend less money".
( Slippery Mick ‏, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:37, closed)

Sounds about right.
Odd that the consultancies' reports never point out that there are massive savings to be made by not hiring consultancies.

I still think that you could shave the top three layers of management off every NHS body, and the service would continue as before and be much cheaper. Far too much dead weight, up top.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 10:44, closed)

I completely agree with this...
Maybe not the *top* three layers, but certainly at least three of the layers between me and the Chief Exec.
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 12:05, closed)

I'd have some harsh wage caps, too.
6 figure salary? Not on the public purse.
Max it out at £60k (80, if I'm feeling generous), and all the overpaid wastes of space will probably leave, anyway.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 14:00, closed)

Yep, sounds fair.
There was an advert for a new chief exec at the local ambulance trust recently, with an advertised salary of "circa £120k (see text)".

I was intrigued to see what the text said - more money was available for an exceptional applicant, apparently.
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 14:04, closed)

Given that the Prime Minister earns a bit more than £140K
That would seem a tad excessive.
(lolwhites, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 19:35, closed)

For £120k,
I'll bet they have to do some serious delegation.
( monster munch person, man, woman... camera... TV?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 20:15, closed)

I could have done that, I'm good at delegating.
I seriously considered offering them myself for £40k a year and employing an assistant for another £30k. We'd have muddled through together, we'd both have been earning good money and they'd have saved £50k... what's not to like?
(Professor Kenny Martin Hmm? What?, Mon 27 Feb 2012, 22:46, closed)