Administrative Structure of the Hospital Service
| Published date | 01 March 1958 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1958.tb01332.x |
| Author | JOHN GRIFFITH |
| Date | 01 March 1958 |
Administrative Structure of the
Hospital Service
By JOHN
GRIFFITH
Mr.
Grifirh,
mw
Director
of
Studies
for
the
new
wurses
of
stuay
for
hospital
crdministrators at
Lea3
Uniuersity
and
until
recent&
in
chargs
of
ths
HoJpitol
Administrotot‘s
Training
Schemtt
for
post-graduate
srudents
at
Manchestcr
Um‘uersity,
was
formerly a
senior
hospital
administrator.
He
is
therefore
particularly well qualified
to
reuiew
Sir
Noel
HaU’s
rccmt
Rcport
on
the
Grading
Structure
of
Admimstrativc
s
I
write
this
(December, 1957) morale
among
administrators in the
A
National Health Service is at a low ebb. The immediate cause is the
Minister of Health’s veto
of
a
Whitley Council
3
per
cent. pay award for
junior staff at the beginning of November. But there
are
other reasons
more deep seated.
For
years there has been a steadily mounting sense of
grievance. Only
in
part is
this
because salaries have fallen far behind those
paid for comparable employment in other public services. There have also
been dissatisfaction over recruitment, sectionalism, promotion and appoint-
ment procedures, lack
of
mobility and of incentives, inadequacy of training
facilities and the status of those responsible for basic unit administration,
i.e., Hospital Secretaries.
Difficulties of
this
kind are to be found in other large-scale organisations.
By January, 1957, they were
so
acute in the hospital world
as
to warrant
“
an immediate overhaul of the existing grading and salary structure of the
. .
.
administrative and clerical
staff.”’
The then Minister of Health-
there have been
two
changes since-and the Secretary
of
State for Scotland
asked
Sir
Noel Hall to investigate the problems and to advise
on
the
structure
he considered best adapted to the needs of the hospital service.
In
accepting
the
task,
Sir Noel adopted a time
limit
of 31st August (notwithstanding
that
his
enquiries were to be made alongside his full-time job as Principal
of the Henley Administrative Staff College) because the “matters under
review are very urgent and delay in dealing with them must
be
harmful.”*
His Report has now been published.
It
should be read by
all
who
are
interested in this field of administration.
and
Clerical
Staff
in
the
Hospital
Service.
BACKGROUND
The background to
Sir
Noel’s observations and recommendations are the
difiiculties which he attributes to
:
deficiencies
in
recruitment of school leavers and the age structure
;
fragmentation of the hospital service
;
systems of grading posts and of
“
pointing
”
hospitals and groups.
Recruitment
and
Age
Structure
As a career, hospital administration has,
in
general, ceased to attract young
people direct from school. In consequence, the age structure on the male
71
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