Agency nurses cost £975k in three months
Reporter: Gillian Potts
Date published: 06 February 2015
PENNINE Care spends more on agency nurses than all but one other trusts in the region.
The Royal College of Nursing revealed the spiralling cost of agency nurses: the Pennine Trust - which covers community and mental health issues - spent £975,218 on cover between last July and September. Over the same period in 2012/13 it spent £948,674, but from July to September 2013/14 the cost was £579,155.
Only Lancashire Care Foundation NHS Trust spent more in the region on agency nurses.
Ian Trodden, director of nursing at Pennine, said: “We employ around 6,000 staff working across six different boroughs. Spending on temporary staff might seem high compared to smaller trusts. We use bank and agency staff to provide additional cover during periods of high demand or to cover vacant posts.
‘We are reviewing their use across the trust to ensure they are only used when absolutely necessary.”
The Pennine Acute NHS Trust didn’t respond to the RCN’s Freedom of Information request for spending figures.
The RCN says reductions in work force, cuts to nurse training places, pay restraint and attacks on terms and conditions have made retention and recruitment difficult.
It believes the money used for agency nurses - £980 million nationally - could have been spent solving the problem of vacant nursing posts.
