Government and campaigns
The government has confirmed its intention to consult on a ban on NHS trusts using agencies to hire temporary entry level workers in band 2 and 3, such as healthcare assistants and domestic support workers. This was first reported over the weekend in the Mail Online. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting is set to confirm these plans on 13 November at the NHS Providers Conference in Liverpool which the REC will be attending.
The REC strongly opposes these proposals and has already written to Amanda Pritchard, Chief Executive of NHS England, to set out our concerns around any attempt to ban agency workers from roles in the NHS. You can view the full letter we sent to Amanda here. We have also written to Wes Streeting asking him to urgently reconsider these proposals and to request a meeting to discuss the proposals.
The government's announcement sets out their belief that these proposals will "save the NHS significant sums" but fails to account for the reality of NHS staffing needs and broken procurement system which drives up costs. The procurement staffing framework in the NHS is outdated, and ineffective, leading to increases in off-framework spend and NHS bank usage. Simply banning trusts from using agencies will not resolve these issues and will drive more staff to be supplied via NHS banks, which are in many cases more expensive than agencies per hour. Likewise, the proposed ban fails to account for the reasons why people are choosing to work via an agency, and the flexibility and work-life balance this allows them. Banning agency work won’t improve efficiency in the NHS and could in fact exacerbate staffing shortages as people leave the sector for good.
The government and NHS both set out their concern to ensure tax-payer money is used effectively, but banning agency workers is a move that will save pennies now, but mean pounds will be spent in the longer term. Contingent workers play a vital role in supporting the NHS, and the government should be looking to work with the recruitment industry to build an effective and value-for-money procurement system. Instead, they are choosing to scapegoat agencies for rising costs and inefficiencies that we and members have been pointing out for a very long time.
The REC will continue to oppose these proposals and will keep our members informed of any further developments on this issue.
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