Swindon hospital pays £2,549 for nursing shift

A west of England hospital paid £2,549 for a single agency nursing shift, it has been revealed.

Great Western NHS Trust, which runs Great Western Hospital, is among one in every six trusts to pay over £2,000 for an agency shift, data has shown.

It comes as the NHS contends with a record 47,000 nursing vacancies among 132,000 in total.

The trust said rates are not capped so agencies "are largely free to charge what they want".

A spokeswoman said it meant costs "can be expensive, particularly when we need to cover shifts which require enhanced support such as mental health nurses or cover for bank holidays - as was the case on this occasion".

The trust has focused efforts on recruiting to its internal agency Bank, "which gives staff the opportunity to pick up more shifts and invites local people to work flexibly for the organisation, reducing our dependence on agency workers", she added.

It emerged just days after Royal College of Nursing members voted to strike in a dispute over pay and conditions.

The data, released by Labour after a Freedom of Information request, also revealed the NHS paid more than £3bn nationally to agencies that provide doctors and nurses on short notice.

This represents a 20% rise on last year, when the health service spent £2.4bn, it said.

Health trusts spent a further £6bn on bank staff, when NHS staff are paid to do temporary shifts, taking the total spend to around £9.2bn.

Heidi Alexander, Labour's parliamentary candidate for South Swindon, said responsibility for the payouts lay "squarely" with the government.

She said it needed "to get a grip of the agencies that are making a killing out of this crisis".

The hospital trust said it has "initiated a safer staffing programme, committing over £2m on the recruitment and retention of staff in roles across the trust and we have made good progress in filling vital positions, including in registered and unregistered nursing".

"What is clear though is that this is in the context of a national shortage of nursing staff and a very challenging environment for the workforce at this time," it added.

The government has been contacted for comment.

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