NHS: Management Consultants

Lord Hamilton of Epsom Excerpts

Monday 13th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

I am not aware that it has or that it would need to have been.

[Lord Hamilton of Epsom]

My Lords, surely one of the problems of the National Health Service is the wall of money that was thrown at a totally unreformed NHS by the last Government? Do we not need management consultants now to show us the way forward on the savings that need to be wrung out of the NHS so that it can survive into the future?

[Earl Howe]

Yes, we do, my Lords. Part of the benefit of the modernisation programme will be to streamline the architecture of the NHS so that year by year we will be saving £1.5 billion in administration costs and £3.2 billion net during this Parliament. We need good advice in order to achieve that.