Locum consultants cost NHS board more than £400,000 each
High rates paid to cover posts that are extremely hard to fill
LOCUM consultants have cost Scotland’s largest health board more than £400,000 each to work less than a year.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC), which is seeking savings of almost £70 million to balance its books, said it was having to pay “relatively high rates” to cover vacancies that are extremely difficult to fill.
The sizeable bills for a “small number” of agency consultants were exposed in a hard-hitting report by spending watchdog Audit Scotland.
The report warned NHS funding is failing to keeping pace with the needs of the growing elderly population and described soaring costs against a background of annual budget increases from the Scottish Government of less than one per cent per year.
The number of staff choosing to leave Scottish health service jobs is an increasing problem, according to the report, with turnover rates rising every year since 2012-13.
The auditors said increasing sickness absence rates and vacancies among nurses, doctors and consultants were all contributing to bigger bills for “high cost agency staff”. They wrote: “The increasing use of temporary staff, that can cost significantly more than permanent staff, is putting considerable pressure on NHS boards’ budgets and does not represent value for money.”
In 2015, the average salaried nurse cost NHS Scotland £36,000 per year, but an agency nurse is said to cost double at £84,000.
It was through an audit by NHSGGC that individual consultant locums who cost more than £400,000 for less than a year’s work were identified.
Donald Cameron, health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said the Audit Scotland report showed the NHS was in a “dire state.” He added: “The report continually highlights the strain on the budgets of our NHS boards, so to be paying individual locums such huge sums is utterly ludicrous. Such a payment reveals the massive staffing problem at the heart of the NHS, especially when this money could go towards employing permanent staff.”
Serious safety concerns about reliance on temporary staff are also raised by the report. Included in the risks are staff not being aware of how systems work, not providing continuity for patients and wards being left so short staffed they cannot provide safe care.
The auditors reported that out of 12 official inspections of elderly care wards, seven found staffing gaps were affecting the quality of care or patient safety. Examples include the Langlands Unit at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, Glasgow, where inspectors revealed an acute stroke and rehabilitation ward was shortstaffed throughout their first inspection.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said: “In exceptional circumstances we do have to pay relatively high rates for specialist consultants who are supplied by a specialised medical agency.”
However, they noted locums were not earning £400,000 from the board. They said this figure, quoted by Audit Scotland, includes agency commission and VAT, which equates to in excess of 30 per cent. The board said: “This means a highly specialist locum consultant being called in to cover extremely difficult to fill positions would be paid the equivalent of £270,000 if they were employed for a full year.”
The Scottish Government launched a new network last year aiming to reduce spending on agency staff and improve the quality and governance of temporary staffing. Sarwar said it was “blatant dishonesty” for the Government to say they were protecting the NHS when they were presiding over cuts.
He added: “Health Secretary Shona Robison must make an emergency statement to parliament. The scale of failure outlined is so large it demands an immediate response.”
The NHS budget for 2016-17 included £250m for social services to be spent by Scotland’s new care boards (known as joint boards,) which amalgamate community health and care services.
Ms Robison said: “Audit Scotland have repeatedly argued that integrating health and social care is an essential part of reforming services – and integration joint boards now control around £8 billion of combined NHS and local government spending.
“It is wrong to exclude the £250m of additional NHS resource for health and social care which makes a fundamental contribution to reforming health care for an ageing population, something repeatedly called for by Audit Scotland.”