Big rise in spending on agency nursing staff

The amount of money spent by Scotland’s NHS on private agency nurses and midwives has increased six-fold in the space of five years, official figures have revealed.

The nation’s health boards spent more than £24 million on temporary nurses and midwives in 2016/17, according to statistics published by the NHS’S information branch.

The bill has risen in the past few years, standing at less than £4m as recently as 2010/11, according to the figures highlighted by Scottish Labour.

The number of nursing and midwifery vacancies increased from 550 to almost 3,000 over the same period, a trend Labour attributed to the SNP’S decision to cut training places. 0 Anas Sarwar says the rise shows mismanagement

“These are truly extraordinary figures that show the price of Nicola Sturgeon’s mismanagement of our NHS,” said the party’s health spokesman Anas Sarwar.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “Spending on nursing agency staff has reduced 11.3 per cent under this government.”