Hospital trust spends £2m on agency staff

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust spent more than £2 million on agency workers in less than 12 months, it was revealed.

Between April 2007 and February 2008, the trust spent a total of £2,131,696 on temporary staff.

Figures for the trust, which manages Stafford and Cannock Chase hospitals, covers doctors, nurses and other employees hired for reasons, including covering for sickness, annual leave and staffing shortfalls. Health campaigner Julie Bailey said many patients and relatives had raised concerns.

She said: "My main concern is that they're just coming and going - they've got no allegiance to the hospital and the management don't have any allegiance to them.

"The wards I've heard the most complaints about at Stafford Hospital are wards six, seven, 10, 11 and 12.

"We're told these are the ones that use the most agency staff because permanent staff can't be recruited for them, as they want to go into more specialised areas. Agency staff are in one door and out the next - there's no continuity with them."Mrs Bailey also questioned why more permanent staff could not be recruited in place of the agency workers, who typically cost employers much more to pay per hour.

However, Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust's head of HR, Anne Gynane, said the trust was planning to reduce its dependency on agencies.

She said: "The trust continues to seek a reduction in the use of agency staff. As a result of the additional investment of £1.1 million in front-line nursing staff, the trust will replace the use of agency nurses with staff directly employed by the trust."

Elsewhere in the West Midlands, agency staff are costing one health trust almost £4 million a year.

Between March 2007 and February 2008, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust (SWBH), spent £3,926,000 on the workers.

The figure was up £597,000 on the previous year's £3,329,000 bill - despite bosses admitting they are trying to abolish the use of agency staff altogether.

One of the reasons the trust gave for the increase in the use of agency staff is the outbreak of Norovirus.