Spending on temporary A&E doctors in spotlight
SPENDING on temporary doctors in A&Es at University Hospitals of Leicester has nearly doubled in five years.
The hospital trust spent £3.1m on agency, temporary and/or locum doctors in its A&Es in 2018.
This was the highest level of spending on such staff since available figures begin in 2014.
The level of spending was up from £2.4m in 2017, and almost double the £1.7m spent in 2014, exclusive figure released following a Freedom of Information request reveal.
The proportion of A&E doctors not permanently employed in the department has risen from around 9% per month in 2016 to 17% per month in 2018.
That’s the equivalent of going from an average of 10.8 full-time equivalent roles per month covered by agency, temporary and/or locum doctors to an average of 23.7 per month.
Across the UK, hospital trusts and health boards spent a total of £272.1 million on agency, temporary and/or locum doctors in A&Es in 2018.
This was up from £250.7 million in 2017, and a rise from £194 million in 2014.
UK-wide, the proportion of A&E doctors not permanently employed in the department has risen from around 17% per month in 2014 to 21.1% per month in 2018.
President of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Dr Taj Hassan, said: “These figures come as no surprise considering the increasing demands our Emergency Departments continue to experience.
“The total spend last year on temporary Emergency Medicine staff is the equivalent to at least 2,500 full time emergency medicine consultants.
“We share a real concern about of money being used to fund temporary staff and have long argued that the NHS must find ways to reduce the locum spend and redirect funds to employing full time A&E staff - consultants as well as adequate numbers of nurses, junior doctors and other staff. We believe this is more realistic than trying to shift problems elsewhere through redirection schemes.
“Not only would this help create more stable, settled teams, but it would go a very long way to helping hospitals ensure patients get the timely and safe care they deserve.
“Regrettably though, we fear that this figure may rise further given current pension issue affecting many colleagues, who face the undesirable scenario of being out of pocket for working extra shifts.”
Bank and locum staff tend to come from internal pools of workers who are already employees of the trust or health board and have agreed to work flexible shifts.
Agency workers tend to be more expensive to hire as they are external.
In England, hospital trusts spent £251.5 million on agency, temporary and/or locum doctors in A&Es in 2018, up from £227.2 million in 2017, and a rise from £182.8 million in 2014.
An NHS spokesperson said: “NHS trusts have reduced their spending on agency staff by more than £1.2bn since we introduced new rules in 2016. This includes a £400m reduction in medical locum spending, which means more of the NHS’s budget can be invested in vital services for patients.”
NHS England said the number of emergency medicine doctors in post in NHS trusts has grown from 5,681 in March 2014 to 7,063 in March 2019 – a 24% increase.