New government crackdown on ‘extortionate’ rate for NHS agency staff

The Department of Health is taking action to prevent staffing agencies from charging the NHS excessive rates for temporary workers.

Part of wider efforts to cut costs while improving frontline care, the government will be introducing a maximum hourly rate for agency doctors and nurses, while banning the use of agencies that are not on approved frameworks.

Meanwhile, a cap on total agency staff spending for NHS trusts in financial difficulties will be implemented, as well as a requirement for approval of any consultancy contracts worth more than 50,000 pounds.

Currently, the NHS is paying agencies up to 3,500 pounds per shift for doctors, with the total bill for management consultants coming to more than 600 million pounds last year.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "Expensive staffing agencies are quite simply ripping off the NHS … The NHS is bigger than all of these companies, so we'll use that bargaining power to drive down rates and beat them at their own game."