NHS agency staff paid hundreds per hour, stats show

Agency staff whose services are used by the NHS are being paid up to £188 per hour, new statistics show.

Described by shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley as a “dreadful waste of taxpayers’ money”, the figures emerged via a request by the Conservative party for NHS trusts to reveal the maximum amount they had paid such employees.

A total of over 70 per cent of trusts replied and it was revealed that Whipps Cross paid £188 per hour to an anaesthetist – a sum that would equal around £365,000 annually.

In addition, an agency nurse at the Great Western trust was given £128 hourly, which amounts to approximately £248,000 yearly.

Although the Department of Health said these workers helped deal with resource shortages, Mr Lansley said this should not be the case.

“Surely we should have reached a situation by now where we no longer need to keep paying out millions each year to agencies and their staff,” he commented.

The information was obtained using the Freedom of Information Act.

Meanwhile, last week saw the Department of Health launch its new advertising campaign, Change4Life, aimed at educating people about obesity.