Hospitals spend £8m hiring agency staff

Almost £8 million has been spent on hiring agency staff to cover shifts at three Black Country hospital trusts in 12 months.

One eight-and-a-half hour shift in the emergency department in a Dudley hospital led to a payout of £742.42.

New figures show money spent by Wolverhampton health chiefs has risen steeply in the past year to just under £4 million – almost double last year's spending. While more than £2.7million was spent on agency doctors and nursing staff at Dudley hospitals in a year.

In Walsall just over £1.2 million was spent during the financial year 2008/09. This included spending £830,664 on doctors and £373,466 on nursing and midwifery.

Sandwell health chiefs refused to give the Express & Star its figures, demanding a request be made under the Freedom of Information Act.

NHS trusts pay considerably higher hourly rates to agency managers, doctors and nurses – as much as 10 times or more in some parts of the country.

The number of agency staff budgeted for in October was 11 but 44 were actually employed, notching up a bill for that month alone of £415,000 – nearly a third higher than the amount spent in October 2008.

Overtime payments have also increased, by 46 per cent, while employing medical locum staff is costing the trust 25 per cent more than last year.

Mark Wallis, regional spokesman for the Taxpayers' Alliance, accused the Wolverhampton trust of being "hugely wasteful".

He added: "It's worrying that essential resources are being spent on hiring temporary staff to plug the gaps created by poor planning.

"People pay their taxes for things like essential NHS care, not for extremely expensive agency workers."

However Wolverhampton chief executive David Loughton today said the most significant increase in the city was in medical staff.

"The situation is not ideal but has been caused mainly by the suspension of two consultants - one for almost two years, the other for nine months - and also a problem with long-term sickness," he added. Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust refused to supply their figures without a Freedom of Information request.