Hairmyres Hospital’s chief of medical services said the health board has, over the last six months, focused specifically on recruiting staff into permanent posts and reducing its use of agency staff.
A Hairmyres Hospital Hairmyres hospital chief aims to slash agency staff numbers in East Kilbride after £8million spend – that’s despite bosses spending more than £8 million on agency staff.
The agency spend was revealed this week as part of a Freedom of Information request (FOI).
That showed the hospital to have spent more than £8.4m on agency workers from April 2015 to January this year.
Hairmyres hospital chief aims to slash agency staff numbers in East Kilbride after £8million spend
James Saldanha said: “When all other possibilities have been exhausted, agency staff may be considered.
“The vast majority of our agency cost is for medical staff who are required to fill temporary gaps in our rotas.
“This is to ensure we have the right combination of medical staff to deliver safe and effective care at all times.
“As with other health boards across the United Kingdom, we are experiencing challenges with the recruitment of medical consultants in some specialities due to the lack of available qualified staff.
“Medical and managerial staff work closely to manage periods of peak activity in our hospitals and, where necessary, we use locum doctors who support our full-time staff complement to provide continuity of service while we recruit.”
