01.06.15
NHS to clamp down on staffing agencies ‘ripping off’ NHS – Stevens
NHS England boss Simon Stevens has said the health service plans to “clamp down” on some of the staffing agencies ripping off the NHS.
Speaking on BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show yesterday, Stevens admitted that there had been overspending on contract staff, but added “what we've got to do is convert that [agency] spending into good, paying permanent jobs”.
In the last few weeks, Monitor revealed that agency pay to contract staff at the end of the financial year amounted to £1.77bn, significantly higher than the £766m planned for the period. It was also up on the 2014 figure of £1.37bn.
The NHS Trust Development Authority also revealed that the increase in the level of agency and contract spend is contributing to the decline in the sector’s financial position. For instance, in 2014-15 trusts spent £1.54bn collectively on agency staff, double the amount planned (£708m). It was also significantly higher than the 2013-14 figure of £1.15bn.
Discussing the escalating agency staff costs, Stevens said: “We’ve got to ensure that NHS hospitals are offering employment for these nurses who are currently working in these temporary agencies. But also, we will have to clamp down on these staffing agencies who frankly are ripping off the NHS.”
NHS England told NHE that it could offer no further detail on what Stevens had in mind when he suggested a “clamp down”.
Responding to the news, Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said poor workforce planning coupled with a short-sighted failure to invest sensibly was never going to be in the NHS’ best interests.
“Over-reliance on agency staff is bad for continuity of care, and that is bad for patients,” he said. “Nursing staff are the backbone of the NHS and it is vital that we repair the supply line and ensure that we have new nurses entering the profession.
“There should also be concerted efforts to introduce flexible, family friendly working policies so as to retain our existing skilled and experienced workforce.”
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