NHS Lothian Spends £26.6m on Agency Staff

Forth News can reveal that NHS Lothian spent a record £26.6m pounds hiring agency staff last year which is significantly more than any other health board in Scotland. The figure covers the cost of locum doctors, agency nurses and temporary staff and has risen steadily since 2007/08 when the bill stood at £13.7m. The cost of hiring agency staff in Fife during 2013/14 stood at £4.9m, up from £4.2m the previous year. Health Secretary Shona Robison says a task force is being set up to get costs under control. She told Forth News, "There has been a big increase and there are a number of reasons for that. "It is partly because of the expansion of posts and capacity within the health service and some of those posts are hard to fill".