Limiting use of temporary staffing agencies could save £480m

NHS Improvement has claimed that the NHS could find £480 million to reinvest into wider services if trusts filled temporary vacancies with workers from a ‘staff bank’ instead of using expensive staffing agencies.

It is reported that temporary staff cost on average 20 per cent more than those from NHS ‘staff banks’, who tend to come from internal pools of workers, despite doing the exact same job. The likelihood of a patient being treated by the same healthcare professional throughout their care is higher with bank staff, as they usually work within the trust already.

One agency has been charging up to £480 an hour for one consultant, and £200 for a further five , which is much higher than the £76.10 which is what the NHS would expect to pay if they came from the trusts’ own ‘banks’. The five most expensive locum doctors currently cost the NHS more than £2 million per year.

The NHS has already managed to cut its spending on agency workers by £1.2 billion since a cap on the cost was introduced by NHS Improvement in 2015, with spending on bank staff recorded as higher than for agency for the first time in several years last year.

Although this led to a £582 million reduction in agency spend for the health service, NHS Improvement insists that the NHS is still missing out on significant potential savings, which could be instead used to improve care for patients.

Setting all trusts in England a target of reducing their agency costs by 17 per cent for 2018/19, the organisation is encouraging trusts to adopt a ‘bank first’ approach to recruiting temporary staff, and only use agencies as a last resort.

Ian Dalton, chief executive of NHS Improvement, said: “Trusts have made fantastic progress in reducing spending on expensive private agency staff over the last three years. These savings mean more money for other vital NHS services and ensure every penny the NHS spends counts. But there is further progress to be made. Bank staff cost the NHS less than agency staff and could improve a patient's continuity of care. That is why we want trusts to take a bank first approach, and only use agency staff as a last resort.

“Temporary agency workers play an important role in ensuring staffing numbers remain at a level that provides the best possible care for patients and gives them the opportunity to work flexibly. But an over-reliance on high cost private agencies when there are other options available is not good for patients or for the NHS’s finances.”