Millions paid to agencies to plug gaps

ONE of the biggest drains on NHS resources has been the hiring of of agency nurses, with millions spent every year plugging severe staffing gaps on hospital wards.

In 2012/13, 168 trusts spent a total of £327million on agency nurses. This soared to £485million in 2013/14, according to figures from the Royal College of Nursing.

The RCN predicted the total bill for all 220 NHS Trusts would be likely to reach around £980million in 2015, although this has not been confirmed by official figures. In 2015, taxpayers paid five of the major nursing agencies used by the NHS an eye-watering £97million. In November that year, the Government introduced caps on the amounts that could be paid to agencies for temporary staff, but figures have shown the limits have been regularly breached by hospitals.

In some cases agencies have received more than seven times the rate paid to staff nurses. Agencies have earned up to £1,600 per shift, compared with an average of around £212 a day for those employed by the NHS.