Locum doctor wages costing Yorkshire hospitals £17m a year, figures show

Over the same period, £6.9m was spent on nursing wages, while a further £110,000 was spent on accommodation for nurses.

Locum workers tend to be paid more than their hospital staff counterparts, with agencies able to take a cut, and health secretary Wes Streeting has previously pledged to cut Trusts’ powers to spend on agency workers.

Figures obtained by the Yorkshire Post under the Freedom of Information Act showed that Accident and Emergency departments saw particularly high spends on locum staff.

In York’s A&E department, £1.3m was spent on locum doctors, while £1.3m was spent on nurses.

In Scarborough, £475,000 was spent on A&E locum doctors and £96,000 was spent on nurses.

Other areas of the hospitals which saw high areas of locum wage spending included Internal Medicine, where £1.9m was spent at Scarborough and women’s health services across the Trust.

Some £1.4m was spent on locum wages at those services, which include midwifery.

A spokesperson for the Trust said: “It has been well documented pressures felt in our emergency department are part of a broader national challenge across the NHS. Temporary workers play an important role in ensuring staffing numbers remain at a level that provides the best possible care for patients, particularly when covering short term gaps such as sickness absence.

“Staffing is reviewed on a shift-by-shift basis and may be increased to reflect the number of patients on the ward, the complexity of those patients’ conditions, or any special requirements/circumstances.”

York and Scarborough hospitals are trying to reduce their locum spend, the spokesperson confirmed.

They said:“We are working hard to reduce our spend on locum staff and good progress has been made. A recent audit rated the Trust as providing ‘significant assurance’ in respect of the escalation process we use for booking locums. The audit provides assurance our process is effective and economical.

“We continue to have a robust recruitment and retention workforce programme, and progress is being made to recruit additional doctors and nurses. Our focus continues to reduce staff turnover by retaining staff, which we know is crucial to securing a sustainable workforce.

But the Department for Health and Social Care has warned that Trusts are being forced to use “rip off agencies.”

A spokesperson said: “The NHS should not be forced into wasting millions on rip-off staffing agencies while patients are left languishing on waiting lists.

“Last month, this government instructed NHS systems to cut at least 30 per cent of spending on agency staff next year to ensure taxpayers money is well spent and delivers for patients.

“Instead of pouring funds down the drain, we are investing in training more staff, so the NHS has the workforce it needs to treat us on time again.”