A HEALTH boss wants a counter ticking away at meetings to let people know how much money it is costing.
"I think the NHS has far too many meetings and doesn't understand the cost," said Jon Tomlinson, chief executive of Warrington Primary Care Trust.
"Some managers have their dairies full of meetings every day for the next three months. Meetings can be the bane of modern work."
He used to work for a private firm where the cost of all meetings was worked out and he's encouraging the same at the PCT.
He said the trust's executive team meetings cost £6.50 a minute. The minutes for the last meeting said it cost £851.
He told the trust board there were meetings where two people discussed something, and it would be simpler if they did that privately.
Afterwards he told the Warrington Guardian how in a previous job people had used key fobs to sign into the counter with their pay grades so the clock could measure the cost.
And he said he would like to see the costs of more meetings measured.
"It would ensure that you provide value for money and that everybody is conscious there's a cost to doing things," said Mr Tomlinson.
l For more Primary Care Trust news, pick up this Thursday's Warrington Guardian.
