I was researching that old story about the NHS having the third largest number of employees in the world. I came across this from a few years ago:

Jon Hibbs, the NHS head of news, said: "Still peddling that old chestnut about the NHS being the third largest organisation in the world? You may be interested to know that our best intelligence suggests our world ranking is as follows: Chinese People's Liberation Army, 2.3m; US Dept of Defence, 2m; Indian Railways, 1.5m; Walmart, 1.5m.

The article, in the Daily Telegraph went on to cast doubt on it being right to rank the NHS below the US Department of Defence on the basis that perhaps that department actually consists of four organisations - navy, army, marine corps and air force - rather than one.

So anyway, the NHS ranks either fourth or fifth, it seems.

Incidentally, the full article went on to highlight what a high proportion of administrative and support staff the NHS was hiring at the time compared to those who actually look after patients.

Posted by James Bartholomew • Indexed in NHS

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