09.04.11
NHS spent £300 million on consultancy services
Figures have shown that the NHS spent £300 million last year on the use of consultancy services.
In response to these figures the new health secretary has said that he is ‘staggered’ by the amount which was spent on management consultancies and has promised to deal with the issue.
He has said the reforms which he is introducing will ‘root out unnecessary bureaucracy and any expensive duplication of functions’.
However Nigel Edwards, acting chief executive of the NHS Confederation has said: “External advice will be necessary if NHS organisations are to deliver change and, with the financial challenges and size of the current reform programme, it is probable NHS organisations, especially new GP consortia, will require external help to deliver what the government wants."
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