Plea for more health staff as Covid overtime bill tops £30m
MLA says cost ‘would probably be a lot higher’ in independent analysis of extra hours worked
NORTHERN Ireland’s health trusts have spent more than £30m on overtime to cover staffing gaps during the Covid-19 emergency.
Over £10m — around a third of the total — has been allocated for nursing staff alone.
Between January and October 2020 — the most recent statistics available — the five trusts paid out a total of £31,853,142 on overtime.
The trusts spent a total of £10,349,458 on nursing overtime in that 10-month period, compared to £9,246,055 in the whole of 2019.
Alliance health spokesperson Paula Bradshaw believes if an independent body analysed the amount of extra time that healthcare staff worked during the Covid crisis, the figures would be much higher.
The Department of Health (DOH) said it is fully committed to bringing safe and sustainable staffing levels.
The Belfast Trust spent the highest amount on overtime for nursing and midwifery in 2020 ( £ 4, 339,458), fo l l owed by the South Eastern Trust (£2,063,000), the Northern Trust (£1,645,000), the Western Trust (£1,168,000) and the Southern Trust (£1,134,000).
The figures, obtained by the Belfast Telegraph, come after the chaotic scenes outside several hospital A&ES last month.
Other staff areas in the figures included administration, estates and maintenance, medical, support services, social services, and professional and technology.
Ms Bradshaw, a South Belfast MLA, said more staff must be hired as soon as possible to help keep the overtime figures to a minimum.
“The Royal College of Nursing did a survey of nurses asking people if they were asked to take on extra responsibilities during the pandemic and if they were given the extra money to act up or extra hours,” she explained.
“A very high percentage came back and said that they weren’t properly remunerated so I wasn’t surprised to hear that the overtime pay was up £1m.
“If an independent body came in and did a proper analysis of how much extra time nurses and other medics had given during Covid I would say the figure would probably be a lot higher.”
Ms Bradshaw added that the trusts are not to blame for the rising expenditure, but said there is an issue around staff being properly remunerated.
UUP health spokesperson Alan Chambers said the rise in nursing overtime pay was an “understandable consequence” of the pandemic.
He added that all public service agencies have an obligation to maintain minimum staff numbers to guarantee their safety.
“Staff in all levels of our NHS and social care sectors have stepped up to the plate during this pandemic and have been working much longer shifts than normal to ensure that patients continue to received the high level of treatment they require,” the North Down MLA explained.
“These overtime payments have been paid to staff who have been prepared to go the extra mile to maintain our health service.
“I am sure that these overtime payments will have contributed to lives being saved and illness curtailed. On that basis it is money that has been very well spent.”
A spokesperson for the DOH said it was “very conscious” of the pressure that nurses are under and will work with trade unions and employers to increase staffing levels.
“While we take steps to address these pressures, the use of overtime and other measures, such as agency staffing, complement the regular workforce,” the department said.
“In the longer term, the department is investing in additional training places to grow the workforce, reduce the burden on staff and the spending in these areas.
“We would, even in a normal year, expect to see an increase in the overtime bill — as salaries increase, so does the cost of overtime.
“The overtime worked (in 2020) is testament to the dedication of our frontline staff who have shown again that they are prepared to go above and beyond to care for our population.”