Hospital in England pays £5,200 for one agency doctor’s shift

An NHS hospital in England has paid up to £5,200 for one agency doctor's shift, according to figures obtained by Labour.

The party said a Freedom of Information request revealed that one in three NHS trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor's shift last year, while three-quarters paid more than £2,000.

The most expensive shift was £5,234 and was paid by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.

Labour said the figure showed the extent of the staffing crisis within the health service, forcing the NHS to spend billions of pounds on doctors and nurses provided by agencies.

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, told the BBC: “Trusts are having to breach the caps on how much they pay for agency doctors because of the extremely high levels of demand they are facing for their services.

“The staffing crisis is so desperate that they either pay these fees or find that their rotas cannot be staffed safely, leading to reduced services for patients. This is particularly true in parts of the country where the NHS can struggle to recruit new staff.”

Labour has said they will address low staffing levels by increasing the number of medical school places to train 15,000 doctors a year and training 10,000 more nurses and midwives a year.

Wes Streeting, Labour’s shadow health secretary who uncovered the figures, said: “Desperate hospitals are forced to pay rip-off fees to agencies, because the Conservatives have failed to train enough doctors and nurses over the past 12 years.

“It is infuriating that, while taxpayers are paying over the odds on agency doctors, the government has cut medical school places, turning away thousands of straight-A students in England.”

The Conservatives have said a “record” number of doctors and nurses had been recruited, with 4,000 more doctors and 9,000 more nurses hired since September 2021.

A spokesperson said: “Labour cannot be trusted to support our NHS - they have no plan to grip inflation, resolve strikes or boost the workforce.”