Shropshire hospitals face cap on agency nurses to cut costs
Hospitals in Shropshire face a cap on spending on agency nurses as the Government attempts to cut costs.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has had a cap imposed on the amount it can spend on temporary staff.
It comes after it was revealed £750,000 was spent on agency nurses at Shropshire's two main hospitals in a month because of sickness and a lack of staff.
The trust also paid £2,200 for a temporary nurse to cover a single shift – more than double the rate for a neurologist.
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has accused agency firms of "ripping off the NHS" and vowed to bring them to heel after they cost the NHS £3.3 billion last year.
He has imposed an individual financial cap for hospital trusts.
New rules will also govern how agency staff are recruited, while there will be limits on how much agency staff can be paid per shift.
The pay limit has yet to be decided – and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust only received notification from Monitor yesterday afternoon.
Ruth May, nursing director of Monitor, said: "We've worked hard with the NHS to develop this set of rules which will support boards and in particular chief nurses to reinvest the money currently spent on agency staff into providing the best care for patients.
"Today's guidance is another step in delivering a safe and secure NHS that will meet the needs of patients long into the future."
