NHS pays locums up to £1,400 for single day’s work
LOCUM doctors are charging up to £1,400-a-day to provide cover for struggling GP surgeries amid a ‘workforce crisis’ in NHS Scotland.
Newly released figures indicate the massive sums demanded as health boards and practice managers pay for temporary cover, with one in four surgeries understaffed.
Details released after a series of Freedom of Information requests show some doctors are receiving more than £1,000 for a day’s work, with NHS Orkney spending £1,400 for a locum GP to cover just one day in 2017-18 and NHS Lanarkshire paying £1,132.80.
Scottish Labour health spokesman Anas Sarwar described the disclosures as ‘utterly shocking’ yesterday as he claimed the SNP’s underfunding of primary care had led to a ‘crisis’ in recruitment within the health service.
NHS Ayrshire and Arran paid £885 for a single day’s work from a locum, while NHS Shetland spent £850 and NHS Tayside £830. The Forth Valley health board spent £450 on a day shift, with NHS Fife paying £400.
Elsewhere, NHS Dumfries and Galloway paid £140 for a whole day shift, while NHS Borders said it would pay up to £144 an hour, but refused to say the maximum spend on a single day.
Meanwhile, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not disclose how much it had spent on a day’s work, but admitted it could pay more than £100 an hour for out of hours locums.
Mr Sarwar, said: ‘It is shocking that the SNP GP crisis has created a situation where locum costs are over £1,000 a day.
‘The SNP has underfunded primary care for over a decade and as a result family doctors are left overstretched, overworked and under too much pressure.
‘Our NHS as a whole is in the grip of a workforce crisis.’
In October a GP surgery in Lanarkshire claimed it was being ‘held to ransom’ by locums charging up to £800 a day but refusing to carry out duties such as home visits and signing prescriptions.
One worker, who did not want to be identified, said staff short- ages had left the surgery ‘rapidly reaching a crisis point’.
Fears have been raised over a ‘massive hole’ in the NHS Scotland workforce with a growing shortage of GPs and consultants.
An NHS Orkney spokesman said: ‘At £65 per hour for 24-hour coverage, £1,400 is easily spent on a daily basis covering vacant GP shifts on the isles.
‘We require GPs on the islands to be available for a full 24-hour period – they do not work a shift. To guarantee this availability, we must pay for every hour.
‘Fortunately, the instances of having to pay these rates are rare as we currently have limited GP vacancies.’
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday attacked the SNP over its stewardship of the NHS, claiming it ‘is not safe in their hands’.
Mr Brown said: ‘The health service in Scotland remains understaffed, under-equipped and under-financed.’
Mr Brown added: ‘Whatever the SNP say, the NHS is not safe in their hands.’
A spokesman for Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: ‘Investment in our health service is at a record high and we aim to increase the number of GPs by at least 800 over ten years to ensure a sustainable service that meets increasing demand.
‘The new GP contract, backed by £110million this year, will ensure GPs are able to spend more time with patients and less time on bureaucracy, helping to cut doctors’ workload.
‘We are continuing to drive down the use of agencies and have been clear with boards that they should only use agencies as a last resort when temporary staff are required.’
Tom Bryce, general manager for the out of hours service at NHS Lanarkshire, said: ‘The figure quoted is for our out of hours service and the highest payment noted in relation to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day – and is a very small part of the overall hours covered by staff working in the out of hours service. Nor is it typical of the majority of payments made to locums.
‘In general, the rates paid for locums out of hours reflect the fact that the service operates during unsociable hours, covering evenings and weekends, and the current high demand for their services.’
‘In the grip of a workforce crisis’