Russells Hall Hospital spends £7.5m on agency staff
Russells Hall Hospital spent nearly £7.5 million on agency nurses last year, it has been revealed.
More than 18,000 nursing shifts were filled by temporary workers in 2018.
Pressure on the hospital, which is run by the Dudley Group NHS Trust, meant it was increasingly reliant on agency staff during last year.
Health bosses insisted they are working hard to address the issue, which was described as 'one of the biggest challenges the trust continues to face', by recruiting more staff. An over-reliance on temporary staff was among concerns raised by the health regulator in a damning assessment following a visit to Russells Hall last year.
New figures released under the Freedom of Information Act showed the trust spent £7,459,563 on agency workers during the 12-month period.
A Dudley Group spokesman said: "One of the biggest challenges the trust continues to face is the cost of temporary staffing. While the trust exclusively uses its own bank of staff to fill vacancies and shortages in rotas, it does also need to use agency staff. These staff typically cost more than substantive staff and put pressure on trust budgets.
"This pressure challenged the trust both financially and operationally and is an area where concerted effort is being made in 2018/19 to further reverse this trend in spending through recruitment and retention of substantive staff.
"The trust has utilised its investment in the technology to assist in ensuring that safe staffing levels are maintained through the use of an electronic rostering system which supports the internal nurse bank function to efficiently fill shifts."
Bosses at Russells Hall were told earlier this month that the A&E department must be made safer following an investigation by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which revealed failings in care for eight people who later died. However, the watchdog said these deaths could not have been prevented.
