Over the last six months Change Management Group took part in a research project sponsored by the Management Consultancies Association to examine ways in which the NHS can make best use of consultants to bring about improvements and cost savings.  A report on the project was published on 16^th September.  It concluded that the NHS spends about £300m per annum on consulting services, of which £200m is connected with large IT programmes.  Of the remaining £100m a significant proportion is spent on work that would be more correctly identified as interim management.  These figures may sound high, but at 0.3% of the total NHS budget it is a lower level of consulting expenditure than typical private sector organisations. 

CMG Client Partner Alan Russell was a member of the editorial panel for the report.  He comments: “The view of many NHS executives is that they need the value that external consultants can bring.  It is difficult for even the largest NHS trusts to recruit high calibre staff with broad skills.  The senior teams are overloaded with day to day operational work and this inhibits improvement programmes that are desperately needed to deliver improved patient care at a lower cost.  The report demonstrates the value delivered to the NHS by management consultants.”

The report can be downloaded here.