NHS Underestimates Employee Figures By 200,000

by Dr Emma Gray - 3rd December, 2012

When the previous government outsourced some of the NHS’s back office services (e.g. patient records) to the private sector, the government believed it employed 1.3 million people in the NHS. After the private IT companies started collating the information that they needed to implement the new IT structures and systems they discovered that the NHS actually employed 1.5 million people.

That means that there were 200,000 people on the NHS payroll that hadn’t been accounted for. To put this in context, Tesco (the third largest food retailer in the world) employ 250,000 in the UK.

This goes some way to explaining why the NHS has become a financial black hole. Staff costs are by far the highest single cost in the NHS. How can accurate forecasts for patient services and future fiscal plans be made when the government doesn’t know how many people they employ?

If you are suffering with any of the issues discussed in this article and would like to seek professional help then you may find our Problems Pages helpful.

Dr Emma Gray

I am often the first person with whom my patients share significant and intimate thoughts and memories; I never take that privileged position for granted nor the opportunity to help someone to feel better about themselves and discover a more fulfilling life. One of my colleagues once described me as a natural psychologist; I guess she was alluding to the fact that I feel at ease being a therapist, I can empathise with people’s distress and discomfort but don’t feel overwhelmed by it, I can understand their problem and know how to help, it has always just felt like what I should be doing.

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