Management Budgeting

Management budgeting was seen by the Griffiths Inquiry team as a key element in the general management process. It sought to involve clinicians, nurse managers and other budget holders in understanding their own management roles, with a view to improving services through more effective management at local level, and it was stressed that management budgeting should not be seen as an accounting exercise or as a device for containing costs. How was this system to be introduced in the UK health service, why was it felt to be necessary and, in mid‐1986, what lessons have been learnt from the implementation of the projects to date?