NHS trusts have paid up to $5,200 for a single agency doctor shift, demonstrating how dire the health service’s personnel problem has grown.
The NHS has spent £4.6 billion on contract physicians over the past five years. In contrast, the government has paid £3.3 billion to agencies that offer doctors and nurses on short notice, a 20 percent rise from the previous year.
Trusts spent an additional £6 billion on bank staff when NHS employees are compensated for temporary shifts, bringing the total amount spent on additional staff to almost £9.2 billion.
Freedom of Information requests reveals that one-third of NHS trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor’s shift last year, while three-quarters spent more than £2,000.
Greater Manchester’s Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust paid $5,234 for the most costly shift. It also spent more on agency doctors than any other trust, spending £21 million in the past year alone.
The NHS currently has 9,000 open physician positions and a record 133,000 open positions overall. Despite shortages, the Conservative government reduced medical school spots by 30% this summer, resulting in the rejection of students who wish to assist.
Labour stated that it will address staff shortages to prevent taxpayers from wasting money on agency recruiters and to ensure patients are treated on time by doubling the number of medical school places, training 10,000 new nurses and midwives, doubling the number of district nurses, and providing 5,000 new health visitors.
The measures will be funded by eliminating non-dom tax status, which lets UK residents avoid paying taxes in the country.
Wes Streeting, the health spokesman for the Labour Party, stated, “Desperate hospitals are obliged to pay rip-off fees to agencies because the Conservatives failed to train sufficient doctors and nurses over the past 12 years.” It is furious that, at the same time that taxpayers are overpaying for agency doctors, the government has reduced medical school spots, turning away thousands of A students.
“Labour would address the core cause of the NHS crisis by training 7,500 additional physicians and 10,000 additional nurses per year, with the cost covered by eliminating the non-dom tax status.”
By undercutting the independent pay review panel, according to a Tory source, Mr. Streeting would pave the way for unsustainable union demands.
