Agency stand-in staff costing NHS £1bn a year, report suggests

Locum medical staff will cost the NHS around 1 billion pounds in 2015/2015, as the service is having some major issues in recruiting permanent members of staff, recent figures have been able to reveal.

Almost 85 per cent of locum shift doctors were needed to cover unfilled staff vacancies this year, an increase of 18.6 per cent in the last six months, according to analysis from Liaison, a financial consultancy for the NHS.

The analysis of 51 trusts' spending on locums over the 2015/16 financial year, also revealed that one stand-in doctor is set to earn nearly £500,000 this year, after working an average of 77 hours a week. Working this number of hours is possible because non-junior doctors can opt out of the EU working time directive cap of 48 hours.

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