Staff shortages aren’t a new thing for NHS, but the situation turns grim at the time of major holidays including Christmas and New Year and a new investigation into the payments made to doctors and nurses during such times has found that NHS is shelling out thousands to pay for doctors’ A&E shifts.
According to a new investigation carried out by Sky News using the data collected under Freedom of Information Act, United Lincolnshire NHS Trust shelled out a whopping £3,257 for a doctor to work for 24 hours – 12 hour shift plus 12 hours on-call when available.
All in all four hospital including the United Lincolnshire NHS Trust paid £2,000 or more for A&E consultants to work a shift – the other three being Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust (£2,142), Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (£2,099) and Croydon Health Services (£2,000).
The investigation also look at the amount and rates paid out to nurses during holidays and it was found that three hospitals paid more than £1,700 for nurses on single shifts – Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (£1,875), Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (£1,798) and North Bristol NHS Trust (£1,728).
One of the major reasons for NHS having to pay such huge rates for doctors and nurses is the lack of permanent people to employ. Further, experts are of the opinion that hospitals are competing against each other to fill up empty slots during holidays and this is the reason why prices being charged by locum agencies are going over the roof.
Government and medical care institutions have been looking for solutions to resolve the staff shortage issues in NHS and under one such proposal by The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) pharmacists will be recruited to work in GP surgeries in a bid to ease out the current pressures in general practice and address the severe shortage of GPs.
Dr Maureen Baker, Chair of the RCGP, said that the waiting times for a GP appointment is one of the major talking points across the nation and even if the government announces an urgent influx of extra funding and more GPs the situation can’t be turned around owing to the length of time it takes to train a GP.
“Yet we already have a ‘hidden army’ of highly-trained pharmacists who could provide a solution. Practice -based pharmacists, working as part of the clinical team, would relieve the pressure on GPs and make a huge difference to patient care”, Baker said.
If I call our family lawyer about my late Dad’s estate it costs £250 per hour (so I don’t do it!). A top Doctor at Christmas for less than that is relatively inexpensive, given that s/he’s saving your life rather than your money.