The TUC has backed a motion calling for an evidence-based and fully resourced plan for NHS managers, following a debate led by MiP rep Saj Ahmad at TUC Congress.
Motion 52, moved on behalf of Managers in Partnership (MiP) by our partner union the FDA, was carried by Congress.
The motion highlights the vital role managers play in patient safety and a well-functioning NHS, supporting the delivery of safe, innovative and efficient services.
It also recognises NHS managers as working people in their own right, highlighting their role in developing staff, fostering inclusive workplaces and strengthening partnership working across the NHS.
Congress raised concerns that disproportionate reductions in management capacity risk undermining NHS reform and productivity. The motion warns that cutting management capacity can simply shift essential operational responsibilities onto clinical teams and hinder the NHS’s ability to improve services and deliver reform.
Speaking in support of the motion, Saj Ahmad asked delegates:
“Do we want nurses spending more of their time sorting out rotas and staffing problems? Do we want doctors dealing with operational issues instead of treating patients?”
She added: “Cutting management capacity doesn’t remove work – it simply moves it elsewhere.”
Saj also warned that the NHS cannot deliver the changes being asked of it without the management capacity to organise and lead them.
“The NHS cannot deliver safer care, reform and digital transformation by stripping out the very people expected to organise and lead that work.”
Unions backed calls for the TUC General Council to recognise the contribution of NHS managers, oppose restructuring that targets management capacity without evidence and work with government to develop an equality-assessed, credible and fully resourced plan for NHS management.
It also calls for sustained investment in NHS leadership and management capability to support safe, high-quality patient care.
Saj concluded by challenging the assumption that cutting managers automatically means cutting waste: “Let us reject the idea that cutting managers automatically cuts waste. And let us oppose restructuring driven by arbitrary targets rather than evidence.”
The Scottish Government has announced plans to radically restructure the NHS, replacing Scotland’s 14 territorial health boards with two new ‘Strategic Health Boards’ covering the west and east of the country.
NHS publishes new Staff Standards and a framework for managers which aims to improve staff experience and working conditions.
Plans to cut tens of thousands of management and support staff jobs at NHS trusts in England are “going under the radar” and risk damaging patient care and undermining efforts to reform services, MiP has warned.
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