Labour has failed to spend well on health (Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats)

Wantage and Didcot Liberal Democrats <info@wantagelibdems.org.uk>

Labour has failed to spend well on health

March 25, 2010 1:07 PM

Labour has thrown money at the health service, but not made the reforms needed to make it run effectively

Commenting on figures released today by the Office for National Statistics which reveal that productivity in healthcare fell by 3.3% between 1995 and 2008, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb MP said: "This is yet further evidence that you cannot simply throw money at the NHS and expect it to be used well. Labour has completely failed to implement the type of reforms necessary to ensure that the NHS runs efficiently."

Mr Lamb added: "Many people will be concerned by today's figures because we know that above inflation funding for healthcare in this country is about to come to an end. We need a new approach to the NHS. The Liberal Democrats will cut the enormously overblown NHS bureaucracy and invest that money back into frontline services so we get more bang for our buck."

Figures also reveal that the number of managers in the NHS increased by 4,748 in the last year - an increase of 12% - while the number of nurses only increased by 2%. The figures also reveal that:

The cost of employing this many extra managers is estimated to be £230m
There are now 44,661 managers in the NHS - an 84% increase over the last ten years
The average annual increase in managers over the last ten years has been 4.6% - the average annual increase in nurses has been only 2.4%

Commenting, Norman Lamb said: "The NHS is facing the toughest financial period in its history, yet we're still seeing managers being recruited like there's no tomorrow. Many people will be left wondering why so much money is being spent on more NHS bureaucracy when we're in desperate need of frontline staff. Labour has poured huge amounts of taxpayers' money into the NHS while failing to ensure we get good value for money. The Budget failed to set out any credible plan for reducing costs in the NHS. Labour claimed they would make the NHS more efficient, but these figures paint a different picture.

"Only the Liberal Democrats are being honest about the scale of the challenge ahead. We will start by cutting the amount spent on admin by one third and reinvesting that money in frontline services."