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Plans to ban health service nurses taking agency shifts in other parts of the NHS have now been abandoned.
In a letter sent to NHS trust leaders the day before the rule was to come into force, NHS Improvement (NHSI) announced it is pausing until further notice its plans to ban trusts from using agency staff who also hold substantive roles in the NHS. The new restriction was due to come into effect on 1 April.
The Chief Executive of NHSI, Jim Mackey, wrote: “The instruction has caused uncertainty for providers, and created challenges for some of your members. This was not my intention and I can confirm that NHS Improvement is pausing until further notice.
“To be clear, this pause means that trusts will not be expected to follow this instruction from 1 April.”
The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) held two meetings with NHS Improvement over the previous month to discuss the proposed ban, including one with over 40 representatives from REC member agencies who work in the sector, and wrote to the NHSI Agency Intelligence Team calling for them to delay the introduction of this new ban.
Commenting on the U-turn, REC Chief Executive Kevin Green said: “We are delighted NHSI has seen sense and stepped back from this hastily proposed ban which risked throwing the NHS into chaos.
“It’s the right thing to pause and think again having listened to the feedback from us, our members and other stakeholders like the RCN, and to the voices of all the nurses and doctors who work so hard in the NHS, no matter what their employment status.
“We are committed to working with NHSI to help develop flexible staffing models for the NHS that ensure safety and sustainability for patients and workforce alike.”
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