Spending on agency staff fell 14% in May: Warrington and Halton Hospital NHS Foundation
Spending on agency staff fell by 14% to £1.2m in May, according to a report by Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH). Agency and temporary staff cost £704,000, compared to £734,000 in April, while May's medical locum costs were £346,000, compared to £502,000 the previous month. The report also highlighted a slight drop in sickness absence, from 4.5% to 3.7%, and found that 92% of cases were not due to stress.

Halton and Warrington hospitals’ spending on temporary staff has fallen according to a new board report.

The latest figures show the amount of cash spent on stand-in roles fell to £1.2m during May from £1.4m in April.

More than half of that sum, £704,000, paid for temporary and agency nurses, down from £734,000 in April.

Medical locum spending dropped from £502,000 to £346,000.

Other agency worker costs fell by £23,000 from £159,000 to £136,000.

A Freedom Of Information request has also revealed that the trust spent £739,233 on agency staff for its accident and emergency department during 2015, down from £720,371 in 2014.

Warrington And Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH) has cut its temporary and non-contract staff spending as it battles a £19.9m annual deficit and tries to improve its financial sustainability risk rating of ‘1’ – the worst available on the scale.

Its plan is to slash costs overall in 2016-17 by £10.1m.

In May the Weekly News reported that WHH’s excess staff costs had been running at £900,000 a month in 2015-16.

According to the trust’s latest board report, the hospital also experience a drop in sickness absence from 4.5% to 3.7%.

It said the main reason for non-attendance was stress, which accounted for 24% of days missed.

The report said a study had taken place to establish whether the underlying causes were work-related, finding that 92% of cases were not.

It added that recruitment has speeded up to the ‘ambitious’ target of 37 days and the vacancy rate has dropped to 6.3% where it currently remains stable.