It has been observed that back office employees and "bureaucrats" account for less than 3% of the Taranaki District Health Board's total wage bill.

Yesterday, at a meeting of the DHB in Stratford, Finance Manager, George Thomas responded to ongoing questions regarding the cost of management and administration staff.

Mr. Thomas said that there are a lot of queries, especially when there is a deficit, regarding the number of managers and administration team and whether spending can be diminished by a decrease in those workers.

He said that in the past six years, the total number of staff has grown from 1055 to 1229 but the number of management and administration workers has increased only from 222 to 224.

The total amount to be spent on wages and salaries across the board for the 2010 year is calculated at $98 million, but out of this only $2.6 million will be paid to managers and back office personnel.

He said, "Even if we were to greatly reduce the number of staff in those roles, which would make it almost impossible to function as a board, it would not clear the deficit as has been suggested".

Back office tasks comprise employees working in finance, human resources, transport, secretarial support and library services.