Unions concerned about the number of agency nurses used by Lincolnshire hospitals
Last Year saw over 12 million spent in the county on agency nurses
Last updated 12th Dec 2023
Unions say Lincolnshire's hospitals are spending far too much on agency nurses.
Figures show the trust in charge spent over 12 million in 2022, although that represents a significant drop on the previous year.
The Royal College of nursing believes their use should be avoided as much as possible
David Kirwin is from their East Midlands branch.
They're not able to provide that long term relationship with colleagues
He told us: "They know the trust - they are more familiar with long term patients, they get to know those patients."
"One of the drawbacks with agency nurses sometimes is that they move from one area to another and don't have that build up of relationship both with patients, colleagues and the employer."
"What I think agency staff are not able to provide is that long term relationship with their colleagues."
"There are benefits to agency staff but we're saying that money could also be used to fund permanent posts."
With an agency nurse you're paying those fees to the agency
"If we were to use that funding that is being spent on agencies we would be able to employ 31,000 full time nurses (across the East Midlands) which would almost eradicate the vacancies that we have for nurses."
"Also one of the benefits of having full time nurses is that they know the ward they're working on."
"With that agency nurse you're paying those fees to the agency."
"Actually the NHS is funding the agencies rather than funding permanent nurses to the NHS."
The trust told us:
“Alongside our substantive staff we also have a roster of bank and agency staff to help support our staffing numbers.
Over the past year we have undertaken a significant amount of work to reduce our nursing agency pay bill; which includes extensive recruitment to permanent staffing posts and a reduction in agency costs.
This has achieved a significant increase in our substantive numbers as well as a 39% reduction in agency spend across nursing in the year.”