SPENDING on locum doctors and agency medical staff in Gwent halved last year – but health bosses face challenges if they are to maintain the lower level of spending, says a report.
During 2010/11, £1.89 million was spent by Aneurin Bevan Health Board on boosting such staff numbers in the area’s hospitals, down from £3.77 million the previous year.
The main reasons for needing extra staff were a shortage of doctors in training, and a need to fill staffing gaps created by the restrictions on weekly hours worked, imposed through the European Working Time Directive.
Ahealth board report warns that maintaining specialty staff rotas this year will be a challenge, but reorganising services and providing some specialties on a single site might help to reduce the number of rotas that were needed.
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