New crackdown on NHS staffing agency costs announced

The government has announced that it will be making efforts to reduce the amount of money the NHS spends on hiring agency staff.

A crackdown on staffing agencies and highly-paid NHS managers employed through agencies has been outlined by the Department of Health, with the aim of reducing NHS spending by one billion pounds over three years.

Efforts will be made to cap the amount companies can charge per shift for all staff, including doctors and non-clinical personnel, while NHS regulators will set expectations on overall levels of agency spend for each organisation.

The caps will be reduced over time, so that in future agencies will no longer be able to charge the NHS a shift rate that is more than the hourly rate paid to existing staff.

Agency staff cost the NHS 3.3 billion pounds last year, which is more than the cost of the 22 million accident and emergency admissions during the same period.

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt said: "For too long staffing agencies have been able to rip off the NHS by charging extortionate hourly rates which cost billions of pounds a year and undermine staff working hard to deliver high-quality care."