Spending cap ‘has left agencies struggling to supply workers to NHS’

By The Press Association11th February 2016News EnglandNews England, NHS, Recruitment / Retention, Workforce

Agencies which supply workers to the NHS say they are struggling to fill shifts since a spending cap was introduced by the Government.

A survey by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), reported in the Health Service Journal (HSJ), found 80% of 97 agencies said they could only supply staff for up to half of the requests made by the NHS in January.

This compared with 53% out of 61 agencies last June, before the introduction of the caps.

It suggests agencies may be struggling to persuade workers to take on shifts because of lower rates of pay.

The REC said demand for staff had stayed broadly the same – 33% of agencies received more than 100 requests per week on average in June, compared with 35% in January, the HSJ reported.

REC policy adviser Victoria O’Brien told the HSJ: “Recruiters are receiving the same level of demand from the NHS now as they were before the caps, but the amount of vacancies they are able to fill has dropped considerably because fewer nurses, doctors and allied health professionals are prepared to take the shifts.

“This certainly begs the question, how is the NHS compensating for this shortfall? Are there fewer healthcare professionals on wards because of the caps?”

She added: “We warned NHS Improvement about the dangers of rushing through caps at the worst time of the year.

“Skills shortages in areas such as A&E and critical nursing are well documented and quickly spreading to other staffing groups. Patient safety is at risk if these departments are understaffed.”

But the regulator Monitor told the HSJ that 64% of trusts had told them it was no more difficult to fill a shift following the introduction of the caps. Some 36% of trusts had said it was more difficult to fill shifts.

Monitor chief executive Jim Mackey said: “We know that clinical leaders are taking decisions every day to make sure wards are staffed safely, with rotas based on the needs of patients and sound clinical reasoning.

“The challenge we have been set by Government is to get a grip of NHS finances, which we are doing. However, this should not be at the expense of patient safety – the two must go hand in hand.

“Staff are better off seeking substantive employment within the NHS and picking up extra shifts through staffing banks than relying on agencies.”

In November, trusts across England announced a £1.6 billion deficit in the first six months of the financial year – the worst on record.

Based on current performance, trusts are predicting they will end the financial year £2.2 billion in debt, with 156 out of 239 of them recording deficits.

They have also been tasked with finding billions in “efficiency savings” as part of a wider review.

In January Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he was lowering the cap on agency staff even further, with a ban on agencies that refuse to supply any workers at the shift rate cap. Previously, this only applied to nurses.