Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust spent £4m on agency staff in three months

The board of Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, which runs King’s Mill Hospital in Sutton, Mansfield Community Hospital and Newark Hospital, discussed the issue as part of a meeting on August 1.

Between April and June this year £3.9m went on agency staff, surpassing an original goal of £3.1m, and amounting to 4.7 per cent of its overall pay bill.

The amount the trust has spent on agency staff exceeds NHS England’s current target, which recommends only 3.2 per cent of NHS trusts’ pay bills should go to agency workers.

A report delivered to the board said coverage of staff sickness and vacancies, along with efforts to reduce patient backlogs, were the key reasons behind the increased spending.

A series of strikes also contributed to the cost.

Rob Simcox, director of people, said: “We saw some dependency in agency as we recovered post that period of action.

“What we have started to see is some increased applications for consultants in some of the hard-to-fill roles.

“There’s also been a higher calibre of applicants apply as well.”

Improvements have been made in addressing staff shortages, with all midwife vacancies now filled and no obstetric vacancies currently open.

David Selwyn, acting chief executive, said: “We’ve been able to over-recruit and we’ve got a really high maternity rate.

The report also noted that the trust is no longer using agencies that are ‘off framework’, meaning that they will only use agencies that have been carefully vetted and are trusted to provide the right staff.