Letter: Investigating costs of health care bureaucracy could help make up financial deficit
Faced with a funding shortfall of £400 million, the Department of Health have stated that shortly a decision may have to be made as to whether the department will fulfil its pay commitments to staff or seek to make up its funding shortfall by way of service cuts.
What the department isn’t considering is cost savings in respect of the management and administration of health care in Northern Ireland.
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Hide AdPublic health care in NI employs approximately 66,000 staff and there are six health and social care trusts providing care to the community.
Perhaps an independent audit of administrative and management costs within NI healthcare might identify savings that would go some way to make up the current financial shortfall, protect services to the public and ensure our frontline health care workers are adequately paid.
Do we really need 66,000 staff and six trusts to provide health care? We don’t know the answer unless the Department of Health is prepared to look at the costs of health care bureaucracy.
I would ask health minister Mike Nesbitt to request an independent audit of administrative and management costs within the Northern Ireland public health care system.
Gerry Cullen, Cross Community Labour Alternative