NHS manager's £800k overspend

[Osem]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...ds/8366417.stm

on her last day of employment with the network, Ms Young tried to transfer funds out of the cancer network into the accounts of the strategic health authority and Birmingham East and North Primary Care Trust (PCT). She has since moved to a new job as a senior commissioner for that PCT.

[superbiatch]

As bad as this is (and its a pretty HUGE overspend!), I'm not accepting that finance department/management accountants weren't aware of this. Sounds like someone is a scapegoat to me

[Mick Fisher]

Probably the tip of an enormous iceberg of gross incompetence.

Scapegoats or whitewashes is about all we ever get.

[AdamD]

This is just one small fish amongst a much bigger problem.

There's epic levels of waste in the NHS, I experienced it on a daily basis when I worked at a local hospital as an I.T Technician.

No one seemed bothered about it, but it bothered me considerably, especially when wards were closed due to a lack of funds

People seemed to be under the illusion that money wasn't an issue with the NHS, so they were able to waste money on stupid things like fifteen £600 15 inch LCD monitors (when they first came out) instead of the sub £100 17" CRT screens, secretaries ordering colour printers when all they did was print letters.

There were also some serious policy problems with regards to IT equipment to.

Each department had their own budget, with which they'd purchase IT equipment through us, but when said equipment was replaced, instead of keeping spares for that department, we'd tell them they'd need to order new printers/computers/peripherals, instead of giving them the spare ones we had from their existing computers (mouses, keyboards, screens etc)

There was a storage room, about 30 feet by 30 feet in size, which was FULL of old computers, monitors, keyboards, mouses etc, all of the items had been bought by other departments, which we had then taken away and stored when they replaced it with newer items and yet, we were instructed to tell everyone "We don't have spares"

This room must've had over 300 desktop computers in it, not counting the screens, keyboards and mouses.

Another example being, printers
If a part of an older printer broke, instead of ordering a replacement part for say £5-£15, we'd tell them they'd need to order a new printer, we'd then store the old printer and if someone from the same department happened to ask if we had a replacement paper tray, or guide rail from the printer we took, we'd say no.

Now imagine all this happening in an environment where there were in excess of 800 computers and probably over 400 printers, you can see how much waste there is, just in one hospital.

Nhs has had too much money thrown at it and the results havn't reflected that meanwhile we have hired an army of desk jockeys that make no real contribution to patient care. Nurses and doctors are massively undervalued and how ridiculous is it to say that about a health organisation. Far as i can see the nhs has become a bit of a joke and for all the right reasons.

Myself and the public at large are highly respectful and appreciative most of the time for the frontline medical staff but knowing what goes on behind the scene leacves a bitter taste in the mouth. I have no doubt whatsoever that there could be cuts in funding that wouldn't impact patient care and if the right savings are made might well improve that aspect. I also suspect this applies to most if not all government run departments and hence why i don't have the fear some do of the tories talking about savings to be made.

For people saying cuts means bad patient care look at other countries france mainly springs to mind where they do not spend the amount we do and achieve far better service. Same old UK problem we think money is the solution to a problem rather then getting the right people in the right positions and the sooner that mentality changes the sooner we will all be better off.

[Stuart]

Actually when I worked for our local hospital, there wasn't a lot of waste. But then I did credit control for the Catering department. The headquarters of the Trust (which was down the corridor from my office) always had state of the art facilities and equipment, while we had to make do with cookers that were over 10 years old (so kept breaking) and a kitchen that was state of the art when build (20 years previously) but was a bit worn.

Still, the amount they wasted was nothing compared to the expenses incurred as a result of the contracts *they* signed. A couple of examples of contracts I queried.. We used heated trolleys (essentially industrial versions of the old hostess trolleys) to transport the food to the wards. These were computerised, and the logic boards frequently failed, costing £500 + labour to replace. At one point ,half the trolleys were out of action.

The problem was that the company who supplied the trolley hadn't asked about the layout of the hospital, the manager who ordered the trolleys hadn't thought to tell them and the trolleys were not designed for extensive outdoor use. The hospital was in a series of buildings, only some of which were joined. Most of the wards were in their own little buildings which were not connected to the main hospital.

Another contract I actually blew the whistle on (and was told it was being dealt with, although it never was) was our greengrocer contract. The grocer was charging nearly £500 a day for our greens (it was a 600 bed hospital), yet I went to the local Sainsburys and found it would have actually been cheaper for us to send a couple of people there (it was actually at the end of the hospital car park), and buy the greens in there. They would have been better quality as well.

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

For people saying cuts means bad patient care look at other countries france mainly springs to mind where they do not spend the amount we do and achieve far better service. Same old UK problem we think money is the solution to a problem rather then getting the right people in the right positions and the sooner that mentality changes the sooner we will all be better off.

France spend more.

Among European Union countries, Germany devotes the most with 10.9% followed by France (10.5%) and Belgium (10.1%). The United Kingdom allocates 8.3%, the same as Hungary, and narrowly ahead of Spain (8.1%) and Japan (8%). The only OECD country to buck the rising trend is Finland, where the share of GDP devoted to health fell from 7.9% to 7.5%.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/333/7558/60-a/DC1

I was on about amount of money spent Damien not GDP and as france has to buy the same stuff at about the same prices as us thats what counts. Gdp is a lousy way to work out whether money is being well spent.

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

I was on about amount of money spent Damien not GDP and as france has to buy the same stuff at about the same prices as us thats what counts. Gdp is a lousy way to work out whether money is being well spent.

You said France spent less, not if France use it more efficiently. France has very high taxes and even then for full coverage they need to 'top-up' they social security. You often have to pay at point of use as well...

[Osem]

Originally Posted by Stuart C

Actually when I worked for our local hospital, there wasn't a lot of waste. But then I did credit control for the Catering department. The headquarters of the Trust (which was down the corridor from my office) always had state of the art facilities and equipment, while we had to make do with cookers that were over 10 years old (so kept breaking) and a kitchen that was state of the art when build (20 years previously) but was a bit worn.

Still, the amount they wasted was nothing compared to the expenses incurred as a result of the contracts *they* signed. A couple of examples of contracts I queried.. We used heated trolleys (essentially industrial versions of the old hostess trolleys) to transport the food to the wards. These were computerised, and the logic boards frequently failed, costing £500 + labour to replace. At one point ,half the trolleys were out of action.

The problem was that the company who supplied the trolley hadn't asked about the layout of the hospital, the manager who ordered the trolleys hadn't thought to tell them and the trolleys were not designed for extensive outdoor use. The hospital was in a series of buildings, only some of which were joined. Most of the wards were in their own little buildings which were not connected to the main hospital.

Another contract I actually blew the whistle on (and was told it was being dealt with, although it never was) was our greengrocer contract. The grocer was charging nearly £500 a day for our greens (it was a 600 bed hospital), yet I went to the local Sainsburys and found it would have actually been cheaper for us to send a couple of people there (it was actually at the end of the hospital car park), and buy the greens in there. They would have been better quality as well.

I have a feeling that 'dodgy' contracts account for a great deal of the money which has been thrown at the NHS and wasted.

Anyway in Dollar Amounts Health Spending Per Person:

Spending per person (most recent) by country

France are 8th.
We are 18th.