We pay more but know less

The news that almost £20 million was spent on agency staff by Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust may come as a shock to some, but it is in keeping with a national trend.

Despite the government announcing a cap on this type of spending, hospitals are growing more and more dependent on agency staffing to plug gaps every year.

While the figure may only equate to less than 10% of the trust’s total employee spending, the cost of agency nurses alone has risen by an astronomical £6 million since 2013.

Statistics like this show it is not enough to simply agree on a cap, as it appears no one can predict the strain staffing shortages will have on our health service in the coming years.

While we’re sure agency nurses do a great job and keep wards running well, the wider issue is that it has become the status quo for public services to fork out huge amounts of cash to private companies to provide a service.

The system has led to limitations on several occasions.

The NSL debacle was one of them – showing a company which won a contract for patient journeys had to rely on taxi drivers at times to cover its own shortages.

In November, the troubled Larkfield-based company announced it was withdrawing its bid to renew its contract when it expires in July 2016, with equally controversial G4S subsequently awarded the lucrative £90 million deal to provide hospital transport across the county.

The most troubling aspect of the sky-rocketing cost is the decreasing accountability and lack of scrutiny these providers face. Ironically the more the public pays, the less it knows.