Hospitals in England pay £5,200 for one agency doctor's shift.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-63935416?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Hospitals in England have paid out as much as £5,200 for a shift by a doctor through an agency, according to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests.

That is the latest in an intensifying debate over workforce shortages in the NHS in England.

Labour blamed the high agency fees on Conservatives, arguing they had failed to train enough doctors and nurses.

A Conservative spokesperson said "record numbers" had been recruited.

The information on payments for agency workers comes from Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts in England made by Labour covering the financial year 2021/22.

The most expensive reported shift was £5,234 - paid by Northern Care Alliance NHS Trust in northern England. This covers the agency fee and other employer costs as well as the money going to the doctor.

There was a response rate of about 40% of major hospital trusts in England. Labour says one in three of those who responded paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor's shift last year, while three quarters paid more than £2,000.


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The NHS Confederation said the "staffing crisis" was so "desperate" that NHS trusts were being forced to pay large fees to make sure rotas were "staffed safely".