National Performance Targets
Oral Answers to Questions — Health
2:30 pm
Patricia Hewitt (Secretary of State, Department of Health; Leicester West, Labour)
No, I do not agree, and the hon. Gentleman is absolutely wrong. The proportion of the NHS budget that is spent on management and senior management has gone down. It was 5 per cent. and it has gone down to below 4 per cent. in the latest figures. There are 10 nurses now for every manager, as there should be. The hon. Gentleman's implication that good health care does not require good management is nonsense. I have great respect for him and he ought to know better than to suggest that.