The number of managers in the Welsh NHS has increased by 20.4 per cent since 2005. In contrast, the number of nurses has fallen by 25.7 per cent, from 40,269 in 2005 to 29,915 in 2009.
Several categories of specialised hospital medical staff have also fallen, including geriatric medicine down by 29.6% and neurosurgery down by 15%.
Overall, the number of hospital medical staff has increased by 10.1% since 2005, at less than half the rate of NHS managers.
This is exactly the same point I made when standing for the Assembly in 2007 - that administration and bureaucracy was increasing whilst investment in frontline services was being reduced.
And yet, nearly four years later, we see nothing much has changed.
Back in 1999, there were 10,967 administrators and 32,456 nurses. Fast forward to 2009, and there are approximately the same number of nurses (32,471) but 15,000 administrators.
Whilst the number of hospital medical staff has gone up by 20 per cent in the last decade, the number of hospital managers has increased from 1,617 in 1999 to 3,823 in 2009, a rise of 136 per cent.
I wonder if the mainstream press in Wales will focus as much on this as they have with the debate on protecting the NHS budget?
I doubt it, because it seems that "bashing the Tories" is now a default reaction by journalists who should know better, rather than having an objective view of what has really happened within Wales.
