John Redwood

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Health Questions: More admin than clinical staff

Speaking during health questions on Tuesday 29th April, The Rt Hon John Redwood MP. Expressed his grave concerns that more money is spent in hospitals on administrative staff than on nurses and doctors.

Mr. John Redwood (Wokingham): Given that we need more operations than we have at present to clear the backlog, can the Minister explain why the Government have decided to spend so much extra on administration, rather than on front-line care, so that there are now more administrators than beds? Is that not a strange choice?

Mr. Hutton: That is a hackneyed and well-worn contribution, and is simply not true. The right hon. Gentleman reaches that conclusion only by counting cooks, cleaners and porters as managers and administrators. Anyone with common sense-I am afraid that that excludes the right hon. Gentleman-would know what a load of nonsense that equation was.