Agencies struggle following pay caps, survey suggests

According to a survey conducted by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), recruitment agencies are struggling to find enough nurses and doctors to fill hospital shifts since the introduction of hourly pay caps.

The survey found that 80 per cent of the 97 agencies that responded claimed they could only supply staff to fill around half of the requests made by the NHS in January. This compares to just 53 per cent of agencies making the same claim last June, before the introduction of hourly caps in November. The study argued that the increase suggests that agencies are struggling to persuade workers to take on shifts at the lower pay rates.

In an interview with Health Service Journal, Victoria O’Brien, REC policy adviser, said: “Recruiters are receiving the same level of demand from the NHS now as they were before the caps, but the amount of vacancies they are able to fill has dropped considerably because fewer nurses, doctors and allied health professionals are prepared to take the shifts.

“This certainly begs the question, how is the NHS compensating for this shortfall? Are there fewer healthcare professionals on wards because of the caps? We warned NHS Improvement about the dangers of rushing through caps at the worst time of the year.

“Skills shortages in areas such as A&E and critical nursing are well documented and quickly spreading to other staffing groups. Patient safety is at risk if these departments are understaffed.”

However, regulator Monitor has argued that 64 per cent of trusts had told it that they found it no more difficult to fill shifts after the introduction of the caps. The regulator added that that the hourly rate caps were actually having a positive effect with the number of shifts breaching the rates falling by 40 per cent in the first six weeks of the policy.

Jim Mackey, Monitor chief executive, said: “We know that clinical leaders are taking decisions every day to make sure wards are staffed safely, with rotas based on the needs of patients and sound clinical reasoning.

“The challenge we have been set by government is to get a grip of NHS finances, which we are doing. However, this should not be at the expense of patient safety – the two must go hand in hand.

“Staff are better off seeking substantive employment within the NHS and picking up extra shifts through staffing banks than relying on agencies.”