Health service paying £120 an hour for agency nurses

MORE than £100 an hour is being paid for agency nurses as Northern Ireland’s cash-strapped health system struggles to plug chronic staff shortages.

Hospitals and clinics are becoming increasingly reliant on agency nurses due to difficulties in filling staff posts.

The Department of Health is having to pay between £40 and £120 per hour for uncontracted private agency nurses to ensure health facilities can be kept open.

Health bosses have admitted that the situation is not sustainable.

The Scottish Nursing Guild (SNG) is one of the most high profile agencies to supply agency staff here.

The Department of Health confirmed that payments to SNG can “range from some £40 per hour to a high of some £120 per hour”.

In a statement the department said this “would be higher and in some cases significantly higher” than rates paid to staff nurses and contracted agency nurses.

Payment rates to the Scottish Nursing Guild will vary depending on the posts and shifts being filled, the Department of Health added.

According to its website, SNG’s pay rates for registered nurses range from £24 an hour to £82.50.

The higher pay rate would be for a nurse in charge of a specialist unit on a bank or public holiday.

SNG is not one of the Department of Health’s contracted suppliers, which means there are no set rates to what the agency can charge.

The department said SNG “have taken a conscious decision not to tender for work and enter into a contractual relationship at set rates”.

A spokesperson for the department added that SNG are only used as a last resort, when all other options to secure staff cover have been exhausted, such as bank and contracted agency staff.

“Thus it can come down to a choice to use Scottish Guild in such circumstances or to close facilities as safe staffing levels could not be put in place,” the spokesperson added.

“Agency and locum staff are only engaged when necessary, for instance providing cover where there are vacancies and in cases of sick leave and maternity/paternity leave.

“Without transformation of Health and Social Care, agency and locum costs will continue to increase. This is not sustainable, particularly at a time of serious financial pressures right across the public sector.”

SNG could not be reached for comment.

The high cost of hiring agency staff has led to calls for the Audit Office to carry out a review of spending.

In 2016 the Bengoa report on how Northern Ireland’s health services could be more effective and efficient, made it clear that long-term transformation of health and social care is the only way to adequately tackle the issue of reliance on agency/locum staff.

❝ This is not sustainable, particularly at a time of serious financial pressure across the public sector