The scale of the government’s structural overhaul of the NHS is proving to be far greater than initially thought, with up to 30,000 jobs now at risk. With internal battles to make savings and fill capacity gaps, NHS leaders are already turning towards the management consultancy firms whose business is booming.
The most recent figures from the Trussell Trust estimate that NHS bodies spent over £570m in 2023-24, a substantial decrease since the pandemic but still 83% higher than the pre-pandemic level of £310m.
Previous restructuring within the NHS has resulted in a significant increase in the use of management consultants to support managers during a change process, and at a considerable cost.
Alongside the 2013 NHS shakeup, led by the then health secretary Andrew Lansley, spending on management consultants doubled from £313 million in 2010 to £640 million in 2014, or £915 million at today’s prices.
Full article in The Lowdown, 22 March 2025
