‘Gap fill’ health bill hit £11m last year

Tuesday 22 February 2022

More than £900,000 was spent on average every month last year on temporary workers to plug gaps in the Health service.

Overall, £11.1m was spent on sourcing locum health workers from agencies during 2021 - with around a third of that cost (£3.9m) being an agency "premium".

The latest cost figures were revealed by the Health Minister, Deputy Richard Renouf, yesterday in response to a question from Deputy Geoff Southern.

CLICK TO ENLARGE: A breakdown of the cost of employing locum staff last year.

The Minister explained that agency premiums tend to range from 25% to 40%.

The costliest two months of the year were March and December when the bill hit £1.5m, with agency fees totalling around £508,000 and £524,000 respectively.

The Minister had previously revealed in response to a written question from Constable Andy Jehan that there were 353 vacant posts in the health service last year, with the majority in surgical services (63), medical services (56) and mental health (46). 

Pictured: Health service vacancy figures provided by the Health Minister.

Deputy Renouf said these positions were being "covered in the main by agency and locum workers."

He noted that, overall, 161 people had left the health service in 2021, but maintained that more people had been recruited.

In fact, he said, turnover had decreased from 9.5% in November 2020 down to 8.7%.