Agency pay cut will make NHS staff shortages worse – REC

Nick Elvin

The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) is urging the Government to rethink new caps on NHS agency staff pay, which came into effect on Monday.

The final decision to introduce the caps was made on Friday, and the REC is not happy the decision was taken just five working days after the close of the official consultation to which many recruitment agencies responded with concerns.

REC director of policy Tom Hadley said: “Doctors and nurses who provide crucial front-line services to NHS patients – often at short notice and during unsociable hours – are having their pay cut. This cannot be right and with increased winter pressure on the NHS soon to come, it puts patients’ health at risk. This policy will drive skilled professionals out of the NHS and make the current staff shortages even worse.

“We recognise that costs must be managed but the focus should be on better workforce planning as well as attracting and retaining more people to work in the NHS. These plans have not been thought through and are being rushed in at the worst time of year. Well-managed, flexible working arrangements which have been used in the NHS for decades enable peaks in demand and staff shortages to be dealt with seamlessly so patients get the high-quality health care they deserve.”

The latest report from Monitor and the Trust Development Authority (TDA), released last week, revealed that 182 out of the 241 NHS providers reported a deficit for the second quarter of the year. Overall, the NHS provider sector reported a year-to-date deficit of £1.6 billion – £358 million worse than planned at the beginning of the year. Ministers hope the caps on agency spending will save the NHS £1 billion over the next three years.

The new caps will be phased in over the next few months. For example, for medical and dental staff in areas of the country not subject to London weighting, foundation year 1 staff will earn up to £32.54/hr from November 23, 2015, reducing to £26.03 on February 1, 2016, and then to £20.17 on April 1, for work during core hours (£39.31/£31.45/£24.38 for unsocial hours). At the other end of the scale, a consultant will earn up to £97.22 per hour, reducing to £85.06 and then to £75.34 (£129.62/£113.42/£100.46 during unsocial hours).

But, added Hadley: “It’s clear that Monitor and the Secretary of State for Health don’t really understand why locum doctors and nurses choose to work this way. The idea that by cutting what they earn they will clamour to return to the NHS as permanent employees is wrong. Inevitably some will go to work overseas, others will move into the private sector where the caps won’t apply and some will find flexible and better paid employment in another sector all together.

“The real impact is that we could see the care of millions of patients who depend on the NHS being put at risk over the coming months. We say think again and postpone the next stage of these illogical changes before it’s too late.”