Drop in number of hospital doctors and nurses will impact on patient care
The number of administrative staff working in hospitals grew eight times faster over the past six months than the number of doctors according to statistics from the NHS Information Centre. Despite Government promises that frontline staff will be protected as health trusts endeavour to find £20 billion of 'efficiency savings' by 2014, the latest data suggests otherwise.
There are now 237,685 managers and other administrative staff working in hospitals, compared to just 103,722 doctors.
Quality of patient care likely to fall
The figures come amid fears the NHS budget is being squeezed and the quality of medical care likely to fall as a result.
Earlier this year it emerged the pay of hospital chief executives had risen 7% over 12 months, more than twice the rise awarded to nurses.
Fewer doctors in NHS hospitals
Worryingly, the NHS data also shows the number of doctors has begun to fall. Overall, the number of doctors decreased by 261 over the course of April alone, with junior registrar and training posts hardest hit. The number of nursing posts fell 857 over the same period. There has also been a fall in the number of health visitors.
Leading medical negligence lawyer Adrian Desmond says "It is early days yet to see how NHS management changes affect the number of medical errors. However there can surely be no doubt that if medical and therapeutic staff numbers fall in an environment where patient numbers are likely to continue to rise, the resulting pressure on staff is going to lead to more mistakes being made. Many of our cases involve errors made by overworked and undersupervised hospital staff. These statistics are very concerning."
Consistent with our policy when giving comment and advice on a non-specific basis, we cannot assume legal responsibility for the accuracy of any particular statement. In the case of specific problems we recommend that professional advice be sought.
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