Almost £1.5m has been spent by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in just three months on agency staff to plug workforce gaps.
The total spend over the period between the start of December 2022 and the end of February this year is £26m, MSP Jackie Baillie has revealed.
At least 34,000 nursing shifts were covered by agency staff across Scotland in that period, including over 8,600 shifts in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone.
Ms Baillie, the Dumbarton constituency MSP, said there were 2,075 nursing and midwifery vacancies (equivalent to 11% of posts) across the region, while the total bill for agency staff reached more than £1.4m for three months.
“While junior doctors are being balloted for strike action over pay, the Scottish taxpayer is being handed this eye-watering bill by private agencies to plug the gaps in the NHS workforce,” she said.
“It is concerning that more than 8,500 nursing shifts have been covered by agency staff in just three months in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone while there are a high number of vacancies in this health board.
“The Scottish Government need to focus on retaining skills and stop letting people walk away from permanent jobs in the health service when their experience is so desperately needed.
“The new Health Secretary must prioritise tackling the workforce crisis if we are to truly see recovery in the NHS – we cannot continue to allow the people to Scotland to pay the price of SNP failure.”
A health board spokesperson said: “NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is the largest health board in Scotland and has a variety of ways to ensure there are no gaps in staffing services where patient care is paramount.
“We do this through overtime, excess hours, our registered bank staff and where necessary agency staff.
“he costs of agency staff detailed in the period covered by this Freedom of Information request represents approximately 0.04% of the board’s total annual budget and the use of agency staff helps ensure continuity of care across our services.
“Across Scotland, NHS boards are facing staffing challenges in certain areas and NHSGGC is committed to ensuring that we recruit the best candidates to provide the best patient care possible.”
Leave a Reply