Slow and costly

A PUBLIC increasingly aware of the labyrinthine management structures, sustained by high salaries, that have grown up in the NHS over the past decade will hardly be enraptured by the latest example of wasteful spending.
By The Newsroom
Published 1st Apr 2010, 23:05 BST
Updated 1st Apr 2010, 23:05 BST

According to an investigation by this newspaper, more than 50 doctors, dentists and nurses in the region are currently suspended from work, or have been moved to non-clinical duties, pending disciplinary investigations, at a cost of more than 1m to the taxpayer.

These figures, however, need to be seen in context. The number

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suspended is tiny when it is remembered that there are more than 60,000 doctors, dentists and nurses working in the region, and the cost, though hardly insignificant, is a similarly small proportion of the regional NHS budget.

What is of concern is the amount of time taken to resolve these issues, with one consultant in Hull being suspended for more than two years.

No one benefits from having skilled clinicians lying idle in this way, regardless of the financial costs involved. Doctors, dentists and nurses can only lose confidence the longer that these situations drag on, while their skills become rusty from lack of use.

There seems no reason why some of these inquiries, at least, cannot be speeded up considerably. After all, the NHS has no shortage of managers to deal with them.

Related topics:NHSDoctorsHull