From The Metro:
However, health minister Mike O'Brien insisted he had rejected the McKinsey report proposals. He said the government 'does not believe' in saving money by making cuts to the workforce.
Sure, even the most bloated bureaucracy can save a few quid by bulk ordering of stationery and not engaging in ludicrous sub-contracted IT projects, but ninety per cent of the waste and overspend in government stems from the endless layers of administrators and quangos. They're the ones who should be sacked, not "frontline staff".
NB, the McKinsey report plays nicely into government hands by saying the only way to save money is to sack "frontline staff" which is a political non-starter, of course.
Re Bayard's comment: The Metro article says "the report, which was commissioned by the Department of Health..." but the BBC says "Department of Health officials invited consultants to come up with proposals for how savings could be made and McKinsey responded by proposing drastic cuts..." so it's not clear whether McKinsey did it off their own bats.
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9 comments:
Rather than "save money", has no one thought of actually stimulating the economy by supporting new small and medium business?
"NB, the McKinsey report plays nicely into government hands by saying the only way to save money is to sack "frontline staff" which is a political non-starter, of course."
Er,didn't the gov't commission the report in the first place?
I would never in my life hire one of the big management consulting firms. They're frequently stuffed full of pushy smart-but-useless graduates who have little experience in the business area they're working with and charge a fortune for their services. And they're managed by MBAs who supposedly know about business, despite never having run their own.
And any company who hires them would seriously make me reconsider owning shares in them, on the basis that the management are fuckwits.
JH, maybe, but reducing overspend helps us reduce taxes and there'd be more people looking for gainful employment.
Bayard, see update.
OC, exactly. It's always helpful to see what outsiders say, but you can search the internet for free ideas or just listen to patients/taxpayers.
Mark,
I have nothing against good consultants. I worked with a guy on a project who'd run his own company, run 2 other medium sized companies and become an independent and outsmarted the sharp-suited consultants (and was much, much cheaper).
OC, getting in one guy for a fresh look for a few hundred or a couple of thousand quid may often be worth it, no dispute there.
A spokeswoman on the radio this lunchtime said (without a hint of irony) that NHS managers would be examining the report and looking into ways to save money while trying to minimise redundancies.
Look out over the next few months for a turkey-led investigation into whether or not we should have Christmas.
I suspect McKinsey were paid, which makes it a government project. Assume the Ministry rang up half a dozen such groups & said they were looking to commission a report & were they available, which satisfies both statements.
I never met a management consultant who told me something I did not already know. The only difference was he/she had it all nicely typed up and kept in a posh folder, whereas I had it in my head.
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