Black Country hospital temps bill hits £1.8m in month
The cost of hiring temporary workers at a Black Country hospital has continued to rise as it copes with increased demand from patients – reaching more than £1.8 million in one month alone.
The bill is for agency, bank and locum staff at Walsall Manor.
Latest figures reveal that in February the costs reached £1.848m – an increase of £147,000 on the previous month.
It came after there was an extra £170,000 spent in January as the hospital battles against the need to use temporary workers.
The Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group was earlier this year forced to urge people to only use A&E when seriously hurt due to the pressures on the service.
Latest statistics show that the cost of bank staff rose from £552,000 to £585,000 and locum costs rocketed from £368,000 to £492,000.
However, the bill for agency workers in February was £771,000, which was £10,000 lower than the month before.
A reason behind the increase in locum recruits was mainly in anaesthetics, when the consultant urology post needed to be covered by an agency doctor until a permanent doctor started.
A report from director of finance Ian Baines to members of the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust Board said: "Temporary staffing increased in the month, particularly the use of locum doctors. This was mainly in anaesthetic.
"In totality, temporary staffing costs increased in February to £1.848m. They still remain higher than previous years. The trust needs to control temporary staffing."
Bosses at the hospital have been trying to tackle the costs of temporary workers since the bill hit a record of £2.060m last September.
A recruitment drive for up to 130 new staff was launched last year and the costs had started to decrease, before beginning to rise again at the start of this year as the hospital has faced rising pressure.
Figures released last year showed thousands of extra emergency patients were treated at Walsall Manor.
Between April and October last year there were 16,062 emergency admissions, against a planned target of 14,723.
Admissions for the financial year are now expected to exceed the annual expectation of 25,098, and come as the hospital is facing more demand for services from patients in Staffordshire.
The hospital revealed last week that it will spend £1m expanding community health services to reduce the number of elderly patients being admitted when they can be cared for at home instead. It will see an extra 30 staff recruited to the community services project.
