Government designs bureaucratic top-heavy health boards

Any hope that the revamped Health Boards would see a new slimline administration pushing savings in management and bureaucracy towards front-line services have been dashed with the revelation in today’s Western Mail that not a single administrator’s job was lost when NHS Wales underwent a major reorganisation in October.

Despite the number of Local Health Boards (LHBs) being reduced from 22 to seven, none of the highly paid chief executives and finance directors whose jobs have disappeared have been made redundant. Incredibly, the Government say that although they expect to see a reduction in management costs over time this was never the primary purpose of the reform programme.

Nobody likes to see people made redundant but it seems that there is not even a voluntary redundancy scheme. People expect to receive first-class healthcare when they pay their taxes, not to bankroll administrators and bureaucrats.

Related posts:

1. Wales’ new health boards head for overspend
2. Plaid in denial on their health failures
3. Some quick points on the health service