Wandsworth RSS Feed


Wandsworth health bosses shell out for agency staff

11:20am Saturday 3rd January 2009

comment Comments (1)   Have your say »


Agency staff working in Wandsworth’s health sector have earned up to £147 an hour, figures have revealed.

The Primary Care Trust was among several highlighted as statistics showed millions of pounds was being spent in the country on agency staff.

The health body forked out £147 an hour for a strategic commissioning manager from an agency.

The amount was revealed under a Freedom of Information Act which asked NHS Trusts to provide details of the highest amount paid to agency staff between May and October 2008.

Across the country £800million was spent on agency staff, with Whipps Cross University spending the highest single amount of £188 per hour to agency anaesthetic consultants.

The figures have been attacked by shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley, who obtained the figures.

He said: “For years the Government have been telling us how many extra staff they have hired for the NHS.

“So surely we should have reached a situation by now where we no longer need to keep paying out millions each year to agencies and their staff?

“It is a dreadful waste of taxpayers’ money at a time when they can least afford it.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “Temporary staff have, and continue to have, a key role in helping the NHS to respond to fluctuations in demand for services and in staff availability.”

It is believed the majority of the staff are needed to fill the void left by an estimated 11,000 nurses who left to find work overseas in search of better pay and conditions.

The figures did not reveal whether staff came from private agencies or NHS Professionals, a non-profit agency set up by the Government to provide flexible staff.

Print article » Email to a friend »

Your Say YourYour Local Guardian

Womble, Wimbledon says...
5:40pm Mon 5 Jan 09

If the onus was put back on our qualified, experienced staff & ensuring their retention through good working conditions & better pay, we would not need as many agency workers. However, that will only work for some sectors of the health service. We actually do need Agency staff to fill some positions, as Agency staff are easier to manage (as in utilise for the exact time you need them, rather than having to retain them when not needed as if they are a perm member of staff, to release them would mean redundancy or disciplinary). Agency staff are also cost effective in the way that you only pay for the actual hours they work, whereas a permanent person would be paid regardless of whether they are working or not. Also the management of sickness & holiday pay is picked up by the agency, therefore relieving the Local Authority of a sick/holiday pay burden should that worker require time off.
Overall I can see areas where it makes sense to utilise agency staff, however I also think it should be looked at with regards to "cost effectivness" in relation to ensuring existing staff retention. Newspaper headlines of "millions spent on agency staff" do nothing to help the general puplic understand how Agencies can & do support & indeed enhance the NHS.

Report this post »

Comments are closed on this article.

In this section

Sponsored Links



Local Links


Local Information

Enter your postcode, town or place name

House prices »   Schools »   Crime »   Hospitals »