More than £5 million has been spent employing agency staff by the trust which looks after Sandwell Hospital in the past year, the Express & Star can reveal.

On average £452,000 a month is spent by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, which also looks after City and Rowley Regis hospitals, with £622,000 spent in November alone – £146,000 more than budgeted for.

The total spent was £5,424,000 in the last year.

Hospital chiefs today defended the figures, which cover hiring staff ranging from cleaners to senior consultants.

Staff director Colin Holden said: “It is important that we have the opportunity to hire agency staff in order to maintain our services. For example the most common reason is to cover any unexpected absences and annual leave of our own staff.”

He said the money spent represents between two per cent and three per cent of the trust’s total labour cost.

But the trust, which will discuss the figures at a board meeting tomorrow, refused to specify exactly how many staff were hired and for which specific jobs. It also refused to give examples of individual salaries paid.

“Agency staff are mainly used in response to a particular set of circumstances which can change from one month to another for example a deep cleaning programme or building renovation,” added Mr Holden.

“Agency staff are used in these types of projects because employees are only needed for a short amount of time to achieve a specific goal. This often proves more cost effective than employing someone on a fixed-term contract.”

A report to the meeting states the agency staff are usually cleaners and nurses.