4:12pm Tuesday 9th February 2010
By Lawrence Dunhill
SPENDING on agency staff by NHS Buckinghamshire has more than doubled to £2.4 million since 2006.
Figures show the primary care trust paid "hugely inflated" rates of up to £49-an-hour for agency nurses in 2008/09 - an equivalent salary of £86,000. An average NHS nurse earns around £13 per hour.
Most of the cash spent on agency staff [£1.7m] was for admin and clerical staff. The figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information act.
Around £1.3 billion was spent on agency staff across the UK and last month shadow health secretary, Andrew Lansley, called this “a hugely wasteful way to run the NHS”.
He said: “It is unforgivable that more than £300 million of taxpayers’ money intended for the NHS is instead going to employment agencies.
Spending on agency staff by NHS Buckinghamshire has more than doubled since 2006.
A spokesman said: “NHS Buckinghamshire would like to ensure that permanent staff are always in post, so that it does not have to use expensive agency staff.
“Unfortunately, in the past, it has not always been possible to find the right staff with the right skills at the right time.
“Sometimes employing someone with specialist skills for a short time for a specific project is cheaper than taking on a permanent member of staff.
“However, the use of staff from agencies is very rarely desirable and every alternative is always explored in order to avoid this.”
The Bucks Free Press has submitted an FOI request for the amounts spent on agency staff by Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust
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