£3.6m agency bill for paramedics to tackle shortages
THE NHS is spending millions on private paramedics as it faces a “workforce crisis”, it has emerged.
Spending on agency workers has soared by 40% in a year to more than £3.6million, according to official data.
In some areas, the NHS is so shortstaffed it is paying £30 an hour for agency paramedics – around double the basic NHS rate.
Last night, the College of Paramedics slammed the Government’s “lack of investment”. And Unison’s national ambulance officer Alan Lofthouse said: “Years of underfunding are without a doubt to blame.
“As fast as paramedics are trained, staff are leaving for less stressful, better- paid jobs. The service is like a colander. Until the Government invests for the long-term and stops choosing the expensive quick fix of agencies, trusts will continue to struggle and patients will keep losing out.”
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “It’s astonishing that ambulance bosses are having to spend so much more on temporary staff to keep the service running.”
The East of England Ambulance Service spent £2.3million on agency cover for frontline paramedics in 2016/17 – 47 times more than the year before. Figures obtained by Labour under Freedom of Information laws show there are now 863 NHS paramedic posts vacant across the UK – nearly one in 10. In total, ambulance services spent £ 3,691,858.84 on agency paramedics in 2016/17, up 40% on the £2,630,051.49 in 2015/16.
This month, the Mirror revealed the number of patients waiting over an hour in ambulances at A&E doubled since 2014, hitting 111,524 last year. Labour called for more cash in the Budget tomorrow. Mr Ashworth said: “The Tories have created a workforce crisis and it’s patients paying the price. Ministers need to get a grip.”
Martin Berry of the College of Paramedics added: “[We] continue to be concerned by the lack of investment into pressured services.” However, the Department of Health said Labour’s figures were misleading, adding: “These figures don’t compare like with like.
“In the last year we have supported the NHS to save £ 700million on agency staff spending and between July 2016 and July 2017 there were 454 more paramedics in the NHS.”
East of England Ambulance Service blamed a shortage of paramedics. A spokeswoman added: “Recruiting trained staff is challenging.”