The mythbuster: Boosting ‘frontline staff’ has weakened the NHS ‘chain’ (HSJ, 3 August 2026)

Summary

Despite a 30% increase in frontline staff since 2019, the NHS has failed to achieve their equivalent productivity gains. In this HSJ article, Steve Black uses the simple metaphor, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link", to explain why.

He argue that by making just one link in a complex chain stronger not only doesn’t strengthen the chain. It may also make it weaker, as every link adds extra weight the other links must support in addition to whatever object the complete chain is supposed to hold.

This helps explain why simply adding so many more frontline staff does not lead to the expected huge increases in activity. The other links are the limiting factors.