NHS agency staff pay cap to be extended by end of November

By The Press Association13th October 2015News EnglandNews England, NHS, Pay, Pay and Conditions, Recruitment / Retention

A cap on pay rates for NHS agency workers will be extended within weeks, the Health Secretary has said.

Jeremy Hunt told the Commons a maximum shift rate will apply to all clinical staff employed through agencies by the end of November.

The Department of Health (DH) announced in the summer that a cap would apply to nursing staff first before being extended to other clinical, medical, management and administrative staff.

It noted spending on agency workers increased from £1.8 billion to £3.3 billion in three years in response to the need to boost staff numbers on wards, while some agency doctors received up to £3,500 per shift.

Cutting agency staff costs is viewed by ministers as a way to help NHS trusts reduce their deficits, which according to figures released last week are approaching £1 billion in the first three months of the financial year.

Mr Hunt (pictured) told MPs: “Building on previously announced controls, from the end of November we will be introducing maximum shift rates for all clinical staff employed through agencies which will gradually decrease over time as the measures take effect and demand for agency staff reduces.

“In addition, we will be working with each trust to limit and reduce their overall agency spend.

“Exceptional breaches of these limits will require advance agreement.

“Taken together, these measures are expected to improve patient care and reduce NHS agency staff spend by £1 billion over three years, and the chief inspector of hospitals has confirmed he believes this is the right thing to do.”

Earlier, shadow health minister Justin Madders accused the Government of being “in denial” over agency staff spending.

He told health minister Ben Gummer: “In December 2009, as shadow health secretary, Lord Lansley described the amount spent by the NHS on agency staff as unforgivable.

“Since he made that statement agency spending has spiralled out of control, rising by 83% in the last three years.

“Ministers are in denial about the root causes of this increase – the cuts to nursing training places have created a shortage of nurses and forced hospitals to spend vast amounts on expensive agency staff.

“Will the minister now come clean and admit it was their mismanagement which has caused this financial crisis?”

Mr Gummer replied: “You should know the unforgivable thing was the dereliction of care under the previous regime in the Department of Health, which contributed to the short-staffing – a significant part of the scandal of Mid Staffs – that we needed to put right in short order.

“That required an emergency response, it required agency labour to be employed and we’re now putting right on a sustainable basis the short-staffing which we were left in 2010.”