NHS Primary Care Trust Managers inefficient, says Commons Health Committee report

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDMar 30 2010

Managers of NHS primary care trusts (PCTs) who are in charge of 80% of the annual budget have drawn flak recently from the MPs. Figures revealed last week that the number of health managers have risen by 80% in the last decade.

The Commons Health Committee criticized the lack of enforcement of use of newest drugs and treatments. The report said,

"However, many PCTs believe they are working effectively although the evidence would suggest otherwise….Weaknesses are due in large part to PCTs' lack of skills, notably poor analysis of data, lack of clinical knowledge and the poor quality of much PCT management….The situation has been made worse by the constant re-organisations and high turnover of staff…Commissioners do not have adequate levers to enable them to motivate providers of hospital and other services."

The initial idea of this system came into force in 1991 and has been running since Labor won power in 1997. This system allows the local health managers in charge of the finances so that they can understand the local needs better and meet them.

Now doubts have cropped up with the MPs claiming that most of these managers in the 152 PCTs do not have the knowledge or appropriate skills to install the most ost effective care in the hospitals. This new report this criticizes the moving out of basic healthcare into the community to make it more cheap and convenient. The Committee also asked the government to offer more support to the managers.

An unpublished report by York University suggested administration and management could account for nearly 14% of spending, but it is unclear what exactly this covers.

Committee chairman Kevin Barron said it was a "sorry story".

"The government must make a bold decision - if improvements fail to materialize, it could be time to blow the final whistle."

Steve Barnett, chief executive of the NHS Confederation on behalf of the health managers said that this report did not reflect performance accurately. "We continue to believe that the current system designed to achieve value for money and hold organisations to account has been beneficial for NHS patients." He said.