Health chiefs make £2 million temporary staff saving (From South Wales Argus)

Health chiefs make £2 million temporary staff saving

7:30pm Thursday 17th December 2009 in News By Andy Rutherford - Health correspondent

HEALTH bosses are reporting significant reductions in the use of agency and temporary nursing this year, as efforts continue to cut multi-million pound bills for plugging gaps in demand.

More than £6.3 million was spent on agency and temporary nursing to meet demand in Gwent hospitals during the six months to the end of October.

That is a reduction of more than £2m on the same period last year, with temporary and agency usage higher during just one out of 33 weeks since the beginning of the financial year in April.

Extra nursing staff, are often required to fill gaps caused by sickness, demand in certain departments or specialties, or a combination of these and other factors, but Gwent health bosses are determined to try to cut the costs of drafting in agency staff wherever possible.

An Aneurin Bevan Health Board report this month describes weekend charges for such staff as at times "exorbitant."

Since last January, there has been a concerted effort to try to reduce dependence on agency and temporary nursing and there is evidence that substantial savings are being made. In October alone, such costs were more than £500,000 less than in October 2008.

To supply some temporary staff, the health board has its own nursing bank, through which its own staff can register for extra shifts, and this helps reduce reliance on agency nursing, though that dependence is unlikely to be completely removed.

The nurse bank has a good supply of nurses for special baby care and for accident and emergency for instance, but demand can still exceed supply and agency staff have to be drafted in regularly to fill the gap.

Weekly average use of agency nursing is currently described as "low" in the report however, at 22 whole time equivalents (WTEs), down from 63 WTEs this time last year.