The Department of Health has been told the NHS in England will need to slash its workforce by 137,000 if it is to achieve its planned £20bn savings by 2014.
This would mean the NHS losing 10% of its workforce. The estimate was given to the DoH in a confidential report commissioned from the consultancy firm McKinsey and Company and seen by HSJ.
Although the DoH has said the report was “purely advice and does not constitute government policy”, it bears the department’s logo and has been disseminated among senior NHS managers.
The McKinsey report makes clear the cuts will need to be felt as much among clinical staff as administrators.
Based on its analysis of different staff group efficiencies, it says the cut required to full time equivalents for an NHS hospital with a clinical staff of 300 would be: two consultants, one registrar, 10 nurses, 10 healthcare assistants, three allied health professionals and eight non-clinical staff.
Read more at HSJ.
Tags: Management consultants, Workforce
