Mr. Barry O'Brien:

I refer to Senator Burke's question. As the committee will note from the information we have provided, it is fair to say that there has been a significant reduction in the overall level of management administrative grades. We are now back at the 2002 levels. If one extracts the percentages of all staff who are in non-front-line service provision, about 4% of staff are working corporately, such as, for example, hospital managers and hospital accountants, hospital medical records officers, hospital medical records personnel and those working in outpatient services - all those type of staff. The numbers in the organisations would be variables but these are dependent on size, scale and complexity. However, there is a standardised grading system across the organisation. It is a historical fact that we had a less integrated system. The Future Health framework, the hospital groups and ISAs will result in a more integrated management structure and far greater standardisation and consistency as regards what is where, so to speak. This will come from within the existing pool because we will not be recruiting more people.