Health chief: ‘To deliver cuts we will need more managers’
Friday 18th June 2010, 2:57PM BST.
New Health chief Julie Garbutt
THE Health department needs managers to help it find the huge cuts being demanded by the Treasury Minister, the service’s new chief executive has said.
Speaking at a Scrutiny hearing yesterday, Julie Garbutt said that the department did not have the skilled managers needed to enable it to find the cuts which would transform the department.
Earlier this year, all States departments were asked to trim their budgets by two per cent to fill budget deficits caused by the recession.
The £3.7 million cuts proposed by the department include closing the hydrotherapy pool, reducing administration costs and cutting down on maintenance and engineering costs.
Read the full story in the Jersey Evening Post. Click here for subscription details. Individual editions are also available online.
The Queen's Diamond Jubilee
JEP Jubilee Editions
Saturday 2 June: Guide to Celebrations
Wednesday 6 June: Souvenir of Events
View The Queen in Jersey supplement
Travel
To, from and around the Island
Airport Arrivals/Departures
Harbours Arrivals/Departures
Bus Information/Timetables
This is Jersey
Jersey Evening Post
Useful links
Surly she means ‘different managers’ i.e. better more qualified ones instead of the current managers not as well as?
Report abuse
‘the department did not have the skilled managers needed to enable it to find the cuts which would transform the department.’
So they don’t really need more managers, just better ones. Sack the ones they already have who apparently not up to this task and get some more qualified people in.
I fail to see how bringing in more high paid managers is a good first step to cutting costs. And money you save will just end up going on salaries.
Rev
Report abuse
Good idea, lets employ more people to help save money???
You couldn’t make it up, only in the public sector could someone suggest this with a straight face.
Next time we face a water shortage lets turn on all the taps – same logic.
Report abuse
Spend to save. The mantra of failed management.
Report abuse
So, hang on… to SAVE money, you have to spend many thousands of pounds on yet more untouchble civil servents?
So, more of the same, then… Something goes wrong. Someone gets made a scapegoat. That someone is suspended. Thousands then spent on inquiry to say that the person was innocent. Then the message is ‘we’ve learnt from our mistakes’. No one gets fired or takes responsibility and resigns. More people brought in to ‘address the issues raised.’
and the whole process starts again……
This island is a pathetic joke.
Report abuse
is she for real??
Report abuse
Why don’t we just get rid of you then new girl…the department has been pen pusher heavy for ages and now you say you don’t have the skills nescessary to make cuts so either replace the ones you have for we know already what this plan means…more clerks less service..same old same old.
Report abuse
Yes, but for every new manager appointed cut the CEO’s salary by 5%. That might sharpen her thinking,
Report abuse
So they want to employ more managers on mega bucks, to help decide on cuts that will impact on front line services and patient care – is this something out of a Monty Python script?
Can’t the new Health Chief just get her current highly paid managers to put in a bit of unpaid overtime? Did I hear someone say they’d go on strike? The question is, would we miss them if they were absent from work?
Report abuse
Trimming Budgets-
Just where is this new Health chief Julie Garbutt coming from? MORE Managers appointed to trim budgets. We are supposed to be trimming costs not increasing them. Add to these appointments additional secretaries, administration staff plus office space, furniture, computers…!!! To this guy it spells out additional costs. This begs another question. Are these new appointments rejects from the Mad Hatters Tea Party?
Report abuse
Well we can all see now why she got the job!!
Plus la change; plus la meme!!!
Report abuse
Some announcement was made this morning about employing even more managers to ensure the 100% state owned utilities are being properly run.This evening we get this nonsense.Our government must be delighted to have found yet another staggeringly expensive civil servant who thinks just like they do….with the same results.
Report abuse
Honest to god,you couldn’t make it up.Another great appointment from the UK who doesn’t understand the strategic needs of Health and Social Care in the island.If this is in her probationary period,then can some one please addess her obvious performance difficulties.!
Report abuse
put all the managers names in a hat and draw out the ones to go. At the most it will cost the price of the hat.
Report abuse
Jobs for the boys!
Or should it be jobsworths.
Whats wrong with them?
Pen Pushers sitting around all day trying to look busy,while the Minions do the real work.
Too many chiefs and not enough Indians sure will get the work done!
Give them some perks and pensions and free flights and bupa thrown in just for good measure.
Give them free parking throw in a performance bonuses and garentee them a job for life.
Think I,ll apply for a position myself!
Cutbacts—–don,t make me laugh
Report abuse
If i remember right Mr Ogley was employed not long back to provide savings and cut back on spend. Down the line, he was increased States spending and saved hardly anything yet he is rewarded with pay awards etc, also employed a deputy to help him! Also Top management has increased all with the quote “save to invest”
A message to the States and the States members….THIS HAS FAILED……get a grip and take action with the management who have failed and are still growing! Cut the top level managers, reduce the pay awards, stop the stupid waste on mistakes made by these over paid managers….
Back to Basics…….if you don’t need it you don’t have it!
Report abuse
in the real world, that the rest of us live in, when the work load is on the up , we have to pull out the stops for a good burst of productivity.
regarding the cuts to maintanance, for example if you do not change the oil on your car, it will end up at bellozane scrap yard before its time.
make do with the tools in the box, if the tools in the box are broken , chuck them out,
and replace them.
Report abuse
Surely this is a case of a misprint! The hospital has been employing more and more managers and provided poorer and poorer service.
Surely she meant we need to employ more clinical staff and get rid of the over management and form filling that the last CEO put in place.
We are loosing clinical staff in droves because of the changes and terrible management.
Report abuse
I have to say that the above comments do not reflect the genius of this thinking.
I was once in charge of a rowing team and I employed many managers to assess and streamline the strategy.
On our first race we lost by a mile.
On the debrief it was noted that the other team had eight rowers and one cox, where we had one rower and eight coxes.
I then set up a steering committee, sub-steering committee, oversight committee and cost analysis committee.
After one year and thousands of pounds it was concluded that we did not have enough rowers.
However the new managers brought in meant there was no longer any space for rowers and we lost the next race by two miles.
The rower was fired for poor performance, the management team was rewarded for the expert deductions and were paid a bonus from the sale of the oars and boat.
Yes, you could all learn from this
Report abuse
How much are we paying this person?
Unfortunately Stuart is no longer around to point out that “you could not make this up”.
This is what we get for judging politicians on their ability to ask awkward questions rather than the experience and business acumen to be able to provide answers and make the hard and often unpopular decisions necessary for good long term governance..
Given at the next election we are unlikely to see many deputies risking their seat to take over from those Senators retiring this situation is only going to get worse. The popular policies of taxing the rich till they leave and attacking the Finance industry will only deliver the socialist utopia of universal poverty as seen in many parts of the UK and Europe
Report abuse
I think that the JEP tweaked the real message to something that is clearly daft in their editing. What Ms Garbutt is saying is that a lot of the current Management team do not have the skills required to do this particular job i.e. make cost savings. Don’t be too hard on the woman – not all managers are imported from the UK – some are employed from the local population – hence her problem.
Report abuse
There you are Minister Anne Pryke, we saw it coming!
Had the poor management problem been dealt with operating a clean cut policy “excuse the pun ” saying good bye to the under performing managers under your watch, ie Verita and serious case review. You could put in a place a new team,because you did not take the right action this lady CEO. has no choice but to patch and mend using faulty material.
No ones fault but your own.
Tell us who is going, and who is coming not that the gang is getting bigger at even greater cost to the taxpaying public.
Davey
Report abuse
Perhaps she knows just the people to do the work. They’ve probably been biding their time on the mainland waiting to hear “Come on in, the water’s lovely”.
Report abuse
Very well said JB @19! That’s exactly the problem!
Report abuse
No 19, absolute class! Totally hilarious and 100% accurate!
They have nurses, doctors and patients, all of whom could tell them exactly where money can be saved. We do not need managers to decide this we need the people on the floor who actually do the job and who have medical training and know what will and what won’t have a negative effect on patient care.
I already pointed this out when there was a previous article on here asking how health could cut costs, and I remember one Minister piping in thanking us all for our ideas and saying they would be taken on board. Clearly!
Report abuse
yeah right great idea…wonder if homer simpson wants a position!!! why don’t you have a expensive report to find out nothing we already know.
Empower those who are hands on, don’t employ more pen pushers…
Report abuse
Thankyou so much Ms Garbutt for telling Jersey that their present managers are useless. As a totally hacked off frontline nurse, with 5 layers of management above me (this is not inclusive of civil service), I think it is reasonable that some of those people could do what is asked of them. I am thrilled that you have chosen not to ask minions such as myself who have worked in hospitals in Jersey for over 25 years where cuts could be made and have instead opted to pay even more managers to implement these changes. My question is this, How do new managers know what is essential and what is not when the present muppet brigade have no idea other than cutting frontline services? Did someone say staff morale was low????
Report abuse
You get what you deserve.
While you keep on voting in establishment lackey’s you will continue to get the same old failed establishment policies with a lack of civil service and ministerial accountability.
I have little sympathy for you because this is the horse that you, the majority of the voting public, keep putting your money on.
You can hardly whine when you get more of the same.
Report abuse
Sounds more like a quote from a Carlsberg advert.
Report abuse
Jadee #27
Who can we blame except your unions and collective bargaining for there being 5 layers of management above you.
The only way a nurse who is good at her/his job can be rewarded is by promotion.
The best people get promoted to a desk and we end up with too many chiefs and not enough Indians
Kick out the unions and negotiate your own pay and conditions.
Making a few chiefs redundant will leave a few quid in the pot to pay you what you deserve and attract the those good at the job to return to the sharp end.
Report abuse
#27 Jadee, so true! When it comes to finding out where there is monetary waste nurses are the best resource that the health service have (not to say that they aren’t the best resource period
) Doctors can undoubtedly contribute but nurses have a far better idea of the day-to-day operations and what affects patient care.
There is no need for more managers, there will be plenty managers at the moment that are complete wastes of space (some will genuinely be doing a good job at what they have been asked to do, just that what they have been asked to do is pointless).
Health service, ASK THE NURSES if you want to save money, and this time actually listen to them they know what they are talking about.
Report abuse
Easy to answer,
stop allowing people to use and abuse the health service.
Stop handing out 15 years worth of pills for one person for depression, there are cheaper ways of sorting that out.
Scrap the free prescription and go back to the old system,
stop paying consultants so much money. How much did it cost when was it John day was suspended for a year.
Stop employing people from the UK to manage the health service, Just look at the NHS and there spending figures on management. Thats why the UK goverment are getting rid of managers in the NHS, it wasn’t the cure for spanding, it made it worse.
Sort out the Alcohol problems and heroine in the island. free methodone is not going to solve the problem.
give the police powers to stop kids under 18 smoking.
There are many more and im not a manager of the healt dept! says it all.
Report abuse
Even if the J.E.P. got it slightly out of context and it’s not exactly what she meant…just look at the post from a nurse….27 jadee 5 layers of management above her and rising…says two things only…out of control…and beyond affordability..Anne Pryke…what are you going to do about it…no let me answer for you…Nada.
Report abuse
It’s usually the people at the coalface who know where the cuts can be made. What absolute nonsense. This is why the states loses money. Never mind us the taxpayer will bail them out again.
Report abuse
Three weeks into the job and with a remarkable degree of insight Mrs Garbutt has already realised the problem, amazing. Why did no-one see this before. Spend £1m on new management, sack a few nurses, a couple of porters, cut down on selotape, through in some euthanasia. Problem solved. Collect bonus, pension and go home. All health’s problems solved in one month. That was all we needed……..a woman!
Report abuse
#32 Helen, you have clearly never suffered depression. Genuine moderate to severe depression and Bipolar Disorder both require medication, that is just a fact. It would be an extremely inhumane society that withheld that from people or charged them for it when their illness is no fault of their own. Especially inhumane since the health service is paying a heck of a lot of money for gastric band surgery despite there being far cheaper (and safer) ways of losing weight! Why not target areas like that? To be honest there shouldn’t even be any need for surgery like that.
If, of course, you are referring to those people who have mild depression then I agree, anti-depressants have been proven not to work on mild depression. Nor should they be handed out to people who simply have rubbish lives, are just a bit sad for perfectly genuine reasons, or who are ‘just’ grieving. However, this is a matter for the health service to deal with, ensuring that prescriptions are genuinely needed, it is not for those who know nothing about such conditions to judge that those of us who have genuine depression do not need medication for it. That’s like me arguing that someone with kidney failure doesn’t need dialysis.
Report abuse
Leah,
yes you are correct, The problem is the ammount of people diagnosed with supposed depression when there just run down and need a break from a heavy work load.
In a lot of cases some mothers who suffered post natal depression are still on the anti depressants years after the problem has gone, It causes the patient to become reliable on the pills as a rescue.
I sympathise with anyone who has suffered depression, i have never had the problem myself but my father has, he was run down and stressed. They diagnosed him with depression and put him on Prozac. He was later told by another GP he should never have been diagnosed with the disorder and put on Prozac.
Report abuse
J.B. #19 Absolutely priceless – you clearly have considerable insight into management structures in the States.
This is exactly what is occurring in the States Police. A Superintendent has just retired and is to be replaced by two Superintendents (previously Chief Inspectors) and the two promoted Chief Inspectors are being replaced by four Chief Inspectors. No wonder you never see officers on patrol.
Surely States hierarchy should put a stop to these crass decisions.
Report abuse
#37 Assuming that your father may be of retirement age Helen then that is really bad. It’s perfectly natural that we all go through bad times but as you clearly do know there is a big difference between that and a medical condition. The drugs your father was on can have extreme side effects and it is very worrying that more care wasn’t taken over assessing his condition. Sounds like a situation where attempting talking therapies first might have been a good idea! I hope you never have to suffer this condition, but if you ever do I hope you get better assistance than your father did.
The situation with self-diagnosed depression hasn’t peaked yet though, once it was enough to be ‘depressed’, now there are people just desperate to be diagnosed ‘Bipolar’, it beggars belief.
Report abuse