Ulster Unionist MLA Michael McGimpsey has revealed that 90 qualified medical doctors are currently employed as administrators across the Northern Ireland Health Service.
The South Belfast MLA said:
“At a time when GPs and hospital consultants are warning of growing pressures on waiting times and a workforce crisis in years to come, I find it unacceptable that so many qualified doctors are working behind the scenes in roles that the Minister has described as not involving direct patient contact.
“Now I fully understand that on occasions in order to get the best health managers sometimes experience on the frontline is essential. That is obviously also the case in offices such as the Chief Medical Officer and the Medical Directors across a range of our other important arms’ length bodies.
“Unfortunately however the numbers that were revealed to me through an Assembly Question are so great that I suspect a number of these 90 doctors have been put off working on the frontline as the pressures there are so great at present. I have now sought further clarification on how many of these 90 doctors have no experience of frontline care at all.
“In particular I simply do not believe it is necessary for 24 fully qualified doctors to be working in the Health and Social Care Board in roles where they have no contact with patients, or a further 39 in the Public Health Agency.
“I have long been raising concerns that at a time when our frontline doctors and nurses have not been receiving the support they deserve these arms’ length bodies have swelling in size. When I left the Department of Health at the start of 2011 there were 840 staff employed in the Business Services Organisation, yet this had increased to 1,209 last year. Similarly the number of staff in the Health and Social Care Board increased from 365 to 525 . Overall this represents an increase of over 40% in three years; all the time while the conditions on front line care have become increasingly difficult.
“Considering it costs several hundred thousand pounds to train a doctor, it is unacceptable that so many of them are now working behind the scenes with no contact with patients. The Health Minister must intervene to do all he can to ensure our doctors are supported entering and staying at the frontline of healthcare.”