Hospital pays £3,200 for ONE shift in A&E (and £1,900 for a nurse)

THE NHS doled out a jaw-dropping £3,200 for a single A&E shift over Christmas, despite the health service facing its worst winter crisis on record, an investigation found.

Photo of an A&E departmentGETTY

Royal Berkshire NHS Trust paid £1,875 to an agency for a nurse to work a single shift

Cash-strapped hospital departments struggled to cope over the holiday period, with several forced to declare a ‘major incident’ with an influx of sick patients.

But new figures suggest hospital bosses were handing out huge sums to locum doctors in a bid to cope with the demand.

The highest amount paid was £3,258 by United Lincolnshire NHS Trust for a doctor to work for 24 hours, while Royal Berkshire NHS Trust paid £1,875 to an agency for a nurse to work a single shift, according to data obtained by Sky News.

The figures, released through a Freedom of Information request, show more than half the shifts during that period in some NHS hospital trusts were covered by locum doctors, with four trusts paying more than £2,000.

Photo of A&E staffGETTY

Two weeks in December had the two highest attendance figures ever recorded for a winter period

Hospitals are desperate to try to find people to fill these slots and are having to pay super premium rates for that to happen

Dr Clifford Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine

Dr Clifford Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the broadcaster: "Market forces really are quite extreme currently, with the lack of permanent people to employ.

"It means hospitals are desperate to try to find people to fill these slots and are having to pay super premium rates for that to happen.

"It can be very demoralising to be working alongside somebody with much less experience, much more junior, who is earning a multiple income compared to you in terms of the pounds paid per hour."

The shocking reliance on part-time or temporary staff members saw Airedale NHS Foundation Trust in West Yorkshire fill three quarters of shifts with locum doctors over the Christmas and New Year period. 

Locums worked 58 per cent of shifts at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and 52 per cent at Royal Bolton Hospital over the same period.

This winter has seen an unprecedented demand on A&E services, with two weeks in December having the two highest attendance figures ever recorded for a winter period.

Last month, details uncovered by the Royal College of Nursing estimated the NHS is on course to spend £1 billion on agency nursing staff by the end of the year due to a "payday loan attitude towards workforce planning".

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