Scottish Conservative and Unionist MSP for Central Scotland, Graham Simpson, says that the SNP Government’s over-reliance on agency and locum staff in NHS Lanarkshire sums up their “gross mismanagement” of the NHS.
Mr Simpson’s comments come after figures from the NHS Workforce showed that over £423 million was spent on locum doctors and agency/bank nurses in 2021-22.
That represents a 30-per-cent increase on the previous year and was made up of a record £321 million spent on temporary nursing and midwifery staff, and a further £102m on locum doctors and dentists.
The £423 million figure was almost double what was spent on temporary staff in 2014-15.
In NHS Lanarkshire there was a year-on year 54-per-cent increase in the spend on agency nurses and midwives.
This brought the total spend on locum and agency staff up to £41.1 million, an increase of £9.6m on the previous year and £18m since 2014-15.
Mr Simpson says that while agency staff play an integral role in the running of Scotland’s health service, these figures highlight the failures of the SNP to address chronic staffing shortages in Lanarkshire.
He is urging SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to urgently commit to an overhaul of workforce planning, otherwise the already-under-pressure health board will be forced to continue paying large sums for agency staff to plug shortages.
Central Scotland MSP, Graham Simpson said: “These figures highlight the SNP’s wastefulness and gross mismanagement of health services in Lanarkshire.
“While locum doctors and agency staff, of course, have a crucial role to play in the running of our NHS, the SNP’s dire workforce planning has left NHS Lanarkshire with major staffing shortages.
“Often, this spending on agency staff is merely papering over the cracks because it indicates that permanent staff are completely overwhelmed.
“Our frontline staff are at crisis point and we need to see an urgent overhaul implemented by SNP Health Secretary.
“Otherwise precious resources will continue to be spent on a temporary solution to a growing problem.”
