NHS Grampian has beaten its target to cut 25% of senior management posts by 2015 – a feat described as a step in the right direction for the under fire health board.
Medical chiefs revealed they had reduced the number of senior staff by 29.3% as part of a five-year plan to better “meet the needs” of the population.
The ambitious target was put to all NHS boards in March 2010 as part of a Scotland-wide “workforce plan” to assess where change was needed to improve services.
Last night, former medical director of NHS Grampian, Dr Donnie Ross said the “clear out” of staff in the north-east could only be described as a good thing for a body that has been fiercely criticised for the behaviour of its management before.
Dr Ross has been an outspoken critic of his former employer following the suspension of the Queen’s Surgeon in Scotland, Professor Zygmunt Krukowski, and his colleague, Wendy Craig.
The pair faced allegations they had taken “revenge” on the “master surgeon” for raising serious concerns about the running of Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Dr Ross also backed an inspection by Healthcare Improvement Scotland which accused some of NHS Grampian’s top doctors of harassment, bullying and bad practice, which was allowed as a result of helpless managers.
“The NHS seems to be destroying itself from within,” he said.
“It is my view – and I am absolutely sure – that a new culture has to supersede the old culture.
“If that can be done by reducing the number of senior staff, I can only see that as a good thing.”
Across Scotland, the NHS achieved an overall reduction of senior posts by 33.1%, exceeding the target by 8.1%.
The Highland health board cut posts by 34.8%, NHS Orkney cut 36.7% while Shetland cut 20.7%.
Health ministers said the 25% reduction was more of a “national target” than an individual health board objective.
But in the government review report, it broke-down each board’s progress to highlight how much it contributed to the overall score.
The team behind the initiative said it will continue to collect, analyse and publish data annually as part of an ongoing monitoring process.
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian said: “Our management capacity is always under review.
“We continually keep our management capacity under review depending on the requirements of the service.”