Conor McGinn MP Member of Parliament for St Helens North
Conor McGinn, MP for St Helens North, has slammed the Government’s continued neglect of the NHS after new figures show spending on agency staff since 2010 has more than doubled at St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust.
The figures, obtained by Mr McGinn in a Freedom of Information request, show that the total amount spent on agency staff has soared from хЃ4.8 million in 2010/11 to хЃ10.7 million in 2016/17 лв more than doubling the cost of temporary staff to the Trust.
An increase in spending on agency nurses has driven up the figures, with just хЃ0.5m spent in 2010/11 but over хЃ2m paid out in 2016/17 лв and the figure is set to increase for the last financial year too.\n
The figures, obtained by Mr McGinn in a Freedom of Information request, show that the total amount spent on agency staff has soared from хЃ4.8 million in 2010/11 to хЃ10.7 million in 2016/17 лв more than doubling the cost of temporary staff to the Trust.
An increase in spending on agency nurses has driven up the figures, with just хЃ0.5m spent in 2010/11 but over хЃ2m paid out in 2016/17 лв and the figure is set to increase for the last financial year too.\n
Instead of taking action to help hospitals reduce bills and hire more nurses, the Government has scrapped student nurse bursaries лв meaning nursing applications dropped by a quarter in 2017.
The drop in nursing applications and the increase in spending on agency staff shows that our local Trust is being forced to spend more to plug staffing gaps.
Commenting, Mr McGinn said:
“Spending on temporary and agency NHS staff has soared on this Government’s watch and it just goes to show that you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.
“Despite the best efforts of our local Health Trust, hardworking and dedicated NHS staff in St Helens have endured years of real terms pay cuts as prices have risen, while the amount spent on agency staff has more than doubled to meet the increasing demand.
“This is a direct result of this Government’s failure to properly run our NHS, and the decision to scrap student nurse bursaries will make matters worse, with a quarter fewer nursing course applications last year alone.
“A dependence on agency workers to plug staffing gaps is bad for the long term future of our NHS and the Government should commit to turning these numbers around and recruiting more permanent staff as a matter of urgency.
“Local Trusts like St Helens should not have to fork out to fix a problem created by the Tory Government in London.”
The drop in nursing applications and the increase in spending on agency staff shows that our local Trust is being forced to spend more to plug staffing gaps.
Commenting, Mr McGinn said:
“Spending on temporary and agency NHS staff has soared on this Government’s watch and it just goes to show that you can’t trust the Tories with the NHS.
“Despite the best efforts of our local Health Trust, hardworking and dedicated NHS staff in St Helens have endured years of real terms pay cuts as prices have risen, while the amount spent on agency staff has more than doubled to meet the increasing demand.
“This is a direct result of this Government’s failure to properly run our NHS, and the decision to scrap student nurse bursaries will make matters worse, with a quarter fewer nursing course applications last year alone.
“A dependence on agency workers to plug staffing gaps is bad for the long term future of our NHS and the Government should commit to turning these numbers around and recruiting more permanent staff as a matter of urgency.
“Local Trusts like St Helens should not have to fork out to fix a problem created by the Tory Government in London.”
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