Where does all the money go?

Iain Murray does his normal spot-on job of identifying the key fact in a story, by highlighting the news that the number of admin staff in the NHS has risen faster than the number of medical staff under Labour, published in The Telegraph today.

I have some experience of the NHS because someone I know very well works for it. (I’m being intentionally vague, as I don’t have their permission to give details.) I am full of admiration for front line medical staff in the NHS, who do a fantastic job for little money in the face of increasing public stupidity, hostility and probably several other things ending with “idity”. I have no time at all for the proliferating and self-replicating breed we call the NHS manager, whom seem to exist solely to further their own positions, careers, financial bounty and sense of self-importance. These people are slowly bleeding our cash out of the heath services we need.

Now, I’m sure there are good, efficient and committed NHS managers out there, but they’re in the minority. The rest, like far too many professional managers, put money before people and spend more time justifying their own existence than actually helping the front line staff. This is the fallacy that most managers subscribe to: that they exist to tell others what to do. No. They exist to make life easier for the people who are actually doing the work. It’s a pity that they’ve forgotten this.

Mr Blair, please stop giving my money to these parasites.