Latest editorial
Hospital staff outside University College Hospital in London
MORE than £3 billion of NHS cash was poured into the pockets of profit-driven employment agencies in the last 12 months for providing doctors and nurses to plug the gaps left by the health service’s continuing staffing crisis.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said the cash was spent as nurses were being told by the government that “a pay rise for nursing is unaffordable.”
And the £3bn is a 20 per cent increase on last year’s NHS spending in England on agencies, and amounts to £2,500 for a single nurse shift, according to figures obtained by the BBC and Labour.
With 121,000 vacancies and 44.8% of staff feeling unwell from work stress, the NHS 10-year plan will not succeed unless the government takes immediate action to retain existing staff, writes ANNETTE MANSELL-GREEN
Government urged ‘to tackle the root causes’ of the NHS crisis and improve ‘social care services’
