The number of managers working in the NHS fell by nearly four times as much as other groups of staff over the past year, the NHS chief executive’s annual report reveals.

In the year to February 2012 the overall NHS workforce excluding GPs and practice staff shrunk by 1.5 per cent to just over one million.

Over the same period the number of managers and senior managers fell by 5.7 per cent from 38,435 to 36,233.

The report said strategic health authority plans showed it was “likely” these trends will continue during  2012-13.

It was published on the day NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson addressed the NHS Confederation conference in Manchester.

He praised the management community for leading major improvements in quality of the NHS over the past six years and urged them to put any reservations about the Health and Social Care Act to one side to make the reforms work.

Sir David said: “You should have confidence that you as a leadership community can deliver this change.”

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