More than £365 million spent on agency staff in NHS Trusts the West Midlands over last few years
Over the last three years hospitals across England have spent more than £3 billion on agency nurses
Hospitals in England have spent more than £3 billion on agency nurses in the last few years, according to new data.
The Royal College of Nursing gathered figures under the Freedom of Information Act from 182 NHS trusts on spending on agency nurses, plus nursing staff such as assistants and support workers.
The union said every region has spent millions of pounds, which it suggested could have paid the salaries of almost 31,000 full-time nurses, or trained more than 86,000 new ones.
In the West Midlands alone, from the 19 out of 23 trusts included in the data, over £365 million spent over last few years.
In total, NHS trusts spent £3.2 billion between 2020 and 2022, with the London region spending the most at almost £630.5 million, followed by the South East at £582 million.
Hospitals use these doctors and nurses as temporary agency staff to fill gaps in rotas and in England, trust leader are allowed to pay a maximum of 155% of normal staff hourly rates for agency staff.
They can only pay above this limit "on exceptional patient safety grounds."
Official NHS flexible staff banks also exist which place health workers with employers who need to fill temporary gaps.
NHS England data shows that one in 10 registered nursing posts were vacant at the end of September, which is 42,306 vacancies.
Adrian Clarkson from the RCN in our region told us: " Patient care is unfortunately impacted the fact that we have 40,000 nursing vacancies in the NHS, there are not enough nurses to care for everyone."
"I don't dispute that agency nurses do a great job, they do a fantastic job."
"It's just that the money could be spent in a much better way, for example waiting lists which are spiralling."
"The growth in waiting lists is four times greater than the growth in recruitment of registered nurses, if that money had been spent in a different way, wouldn't be having the waiting lists that we see now,"
In a statement, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: These statistics cover the Covid pandemic when the NHS was under 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."
"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."