'Urgent overhaul' plea as bill for NHS Grampian locum staff skyrockets
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CALLS have been made for a "urgent overhaul" of NHS workforce planning to address staff shortages.
New figures from NHS Workforce show £28.4 million has been spent on agency and bank nurses and midwives in Grampian in the last year, rising from £23.2 million in 2020-21, a 22 per cent increase.
Across Scotland, £423 million was spent on locum doctors and agency and bank nurses in 2021-22, almost double when compared to 2014-15.
There was also a 15 million rise in NHS Grampian’s spend on locum doctors and dentists which increased to £15.5 million in the last year.
The figures have prompted North East MSP Tess White to urge SNP Health Secretary Humza Yousaf to urgently commit to an overhaul of workforce planning, claiming that a lack of action will see the already-under-pressure NHS Grampian forced to continue paying large sums for locum staff to plug shortages.
She said: “These figures highlight the SNP’s gross mismanagement of health services across Grampian.
“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 the north-east with major staffing shortages.
“Often, this spending on locum staff is merely papering over the cracks because it indicates that permanent staff are completely overwhelmed.
“Having to shell out huge sums on locum staff, along with fees to private agencies, is not an efficient use of limited NHS resources in the north-east.
“Our frontline staff at NHS Grampian are at crisis point and we need to see an urgent overhaul implemented by the SNP Health Secretary.
“Otherwise precious resources will continue to be spent on a temporary solution to a growing problem.”
However, Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP hit back, saying that the ongoing labour shortage was a direct result of Brexit, a policy rejected by voters in Scotland.
She continued:“There are challenges that need to be addressed, although, to do so we need to be honest and look at the cause and effect.
"Why is there an issue with waiting times throughout the UK?
“Delays are being caused because there’s a national labour shortage in literally every industry across the country, including the NHS because Scotland and the rest of the UK were removed from the EU. Bear in mind, this isn’t something Scotland voted for. In fact, it’s something we consistently warned against because of the issues highlighted.
“This is a tale of two governments, where on one hand we have a Scottish Government doing everything they can within the limitations of devolution to improve the health of our communities and strengthen our services, including undertaking positive recruitment initiatives. This is our priority.
“The UK government’s priority seems to be improving the wealth of those on the top, such as bankers and others, while we’re in the midst of a labour, energy, and cost of living crisis.
“This is why independence is so important. Scotland would have the powers and levers to create policies suited to the needs of our nation. We have an SNP Scottish Government who have proven to be very competent, however, we lack the full powers to address challenges being inflicted upon us.”
