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An overspend on agency workers totalling nearly £5m is affecting the Health Department's ability to meet its staff costs budget so far this year, recently published data has revealed.
Figures included in the latest Health Advisory Board papers show that HCS's overall financial position was, as of April, an £8.3m deficit against its year-to-date budget of just under £99m.
The accompanying report notes that a £2.3m overspend on staff costs is being driven by an agency overspend of £4.7m.
Pictured: The overspend on staff costs was included in data published by the Health Advisory Board.
This comprises fees incurred by 171 agency staff – including 40 doctors and 131 nurses or other roles – as well as an overtime overspend of £1m, and a "budget pressure" of £0.5m.
The figure is offset by what the report described as a "substantive" underspend of £3.9m, stemming from 493 vacancies for full-time positions – including 269 nursing posts which are currently empty.
The Health Advisory Board yesterday warned that the £18 million deficit in Health’s 2024 budget may not be achievable without “serious impacts” to services.
Pictured: HCS has hundreds of full-time vacancies including a large amount of nursing roles currently unfilled.
Agency staff spending has become a chronic problem for the Health Department regarding its overall budget.
The Health Department ran a £32.5 million deficit for 2023, and
In November 2023, then-Health Minister Karen Wilson told the States Assembly that her department was facing an overspend of up to £20 million for the year amid an “immense strain” on its budget, mainly due to the cost of locums and agency staff.
Pictured: Health Minister Tom Binet said the overspend on agency staff was a "complicated" problem.
Speaking to Express today, current Health Minister Tom Binet said: "It's a complicated problem that has been in existence for quite some time.
"In the Health world there is a recruitment crisis and that makes life very difficult."
He added that there was "a lot of good work going on" in the department to improve the situation but that "it will take time".
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