Tuesday 27 July 2010

Goodbye Quangos

I see that no fewer than 9 NHS quangos are to be abolished. Those facing the axe are as follows.


*Health Protection Agency (HPA)

*National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)

*National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse

*Alcohol Education and Research Council

*Appointments Commission (CQC)

*Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority

*Human Tissue Authority

*Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence

*NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement


This has apparently “provoked anger among nurses and doctors' organisations, which warned that public wellbeing would suffer as a result.”

These organisations are not specified but the main doctor’s organisation, the BMA, has not expressed any such thing, and their response has been decidedly low key. Indeed in the past a review of these quangos has been advocated by the BMA. I suspect most of the anger in fact comes from those who stand to lose their jobs rather than the front line staff whose practice has been afflicted by the mountain of tick boxing forms generated by these organisations.


A simple test. Write down on a piece of paper how in practice these quangos affect your day to day work. Then look at the list and see if you will miss them. I certainly won’t.

1 comment:

  1. Dr zorro, the wheel has gone full circle. Part of the HPA used to be the Public Health Laboratory Service responsible for public health. Sirry to disagree with you, but for us lab rats they do provide a useful service and we would miss them.

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