Covid-19: Agency nurses cost NHS £3bn during pandemic

Hospitals use temporary agency doctors and nurses, who are paid more than normal staff, to fill gaps in rotas

Hospitals in England spent more than £3bn on agency nurses in recent years, according to new data.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) obtained figures for spending on agency nurses and nursing staff between 2020 and 2022 at 182 NHS trusts.

The union said the money could have paid the salaries of almost 31,000 full-time nurses.

The government said the costs covered the Covid pandemic when staff sickness rates were exceptionally high.

The figures, requested under the Freedom of Information Act, show that NHS trusts in England spent £3.2bn in total, with the London region spending the most at almost £630.5m.

The RCN said every region had spent millions of pounds on agency nurses, nursing assistants and support workers.

It suggested the funds could have paid for more than 30,000 full-time nurses or trained more than 86,000 new ones.

Hospitals use temporary agency workers to fill gaps in rotas, and trust leaders are allowed to pay a maximum of 155% of normal staff hourly rates for them. They can only pay above this limit "on exceptional patient safety grounds".

Official NHS flexible staff banks also exist, which place workers with employers that need to fill temporary gaps.

One in 10 jobs vacant

Data from NHS England shows 42,306 registered nursing posts, or one in 10, were vacant at the end of September.

RCN chief nurse, Prof Nicola Ranger, said ministers had got their priorities wrong and were forcing trusts to squander billions in "yet another false economy".

She said: "With cuts to nurse education and maintaining unfair pay levels, ministers are choosing to spend the money on much higher private agency bills instead."

Prof Ranger warned the numbers should "act as a wake-up call" for the government to "give nursing staff and patients the investment and respect they deserve".

"Not acting now will mean even more patients on waiting lists, and the crisis in the nursing workforce deepening further," she added.

RCN London has said the continuing cost-of-living crisis in the capital, especially the impact of hikes in interest rates, rents and travel costs, meant the risk of more nursing staff leaving had "spiralled".

London hospitals are therefore spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on temporary nursing staff to cover vacancies, it said.

Labour MP for Bristol South, Karin Smyth, said her party's plan would put "£1.1bn directly into the pockets of NHS staff"

Shadow minister for health, Karin Smyth, said spiralling agency costs to keep the health service afloat were the result of a failure to train enough NHS staff.

"Billions of pounds of taxpayers' money is being spent as a short-term solution to staff shortages, instead of being invested in the NHS workforce, while patients receive worse quality care as a result," she said.

"Only Labour has a long-term plan to renew the health service. By getting the NHS working on weekends, we will put £1.1bn directly into the pockets of NHS staff, as well as delivering two million more appointments a year for patients."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said the statistics covered the Covid-19 pandemic when the NHS faced huge additional pressure and staff sickness rates were exceptionally high.

"While temporary staffing allows the NHS to meet fluctuations in demand, we are controlling spending by capping hourly pay and prioritising NHS staff when shifts need filling," she said.

"We have recruited more than 50,000 extra nurses compared to 2019 - hitting our target early - and the long-term workforce plan is ensuring the NHS has the staff it needs over the next 15 years so that patients continue to receive the best possible care."