Hospital consultants are critical of the number of administrators in the health service.
As the number of doctors and nurses in the health service is falling, the number of administrative staff is on the rise.
The Health Service is now the country's biggest employer. Over 81,000 people work for it from lab technicians to nurses, hospital managers to receptionists.
The health service has expanded enormously in the last 10 years but it is the number of the administrative staff that has grown the most, not nurses and doctors.
Between 1990 and 2000, the number of managers in the health service increased by 86 per cent to over twelve thousand. However, during the same period, the number of nurses rose by just 19 per cent to just over twenty nine thousand. The relative share of administrative staff has increased as the number of services has grown.
Pat Harvey of the North Western Health Board refutes the claims made against administrative staff and says that in fact more managers are needed due to the complexity of running the health service.
A recent report by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says that the overly hierarchical structure of the Health Service lends itself to slow decision making. Miriam Wiley (ESRI) says that what is important within each area of the health service is that there is accountability for the resources used in providing services.
An RTÉ News report broadcast on 2 November 2001. The reporter is Aileen O'Meara.
