Revealed: Failing hospital trust spent more than £2 million on agency midwives

The trust, which has been in special measures for 13 months, and which runs Watford General, St Albans City and Hemel Hempstead hospitals, spent £2.2 million hiring temporary staff in 2015.

A study by the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) found a rapid rise in agency staff spending, which has doubled to £25 million in two years nationally.

READ MORE: NHS hospital trust put in special measures over serious care failings

Dr Gloria Rowland, associate director for midwifery and gynaecology nursing at the trust, said: “Midwives are highly sought after but we’re doing incredibly well with our recruitment which will result in a saving of more than half a million pounds on agency midwives compared with 2015.

"Our agency spend will be lower still in 2017.

"Spending on agency midwives from January until the end of September is £1,382,565 and our forecast for the end of the calendar year is £1,627,496.

"Over the last two months alone, 24 midwives have joined us and a further eight are due to start in the next few weeks.

"We hope to end the year with less than ten vacancies which is a vast improvement on the end of 2015 when we had nearly 50 full time vacancies. Word is obviously getting round about our focus on providing professional development opportunities."

Jon Skewes, director for policy, employment relations and communications at the RCM, said: “The findings of this report are deeply concerning and clearly reveal that many trusts within England are far too reliant on agency and bank midwives.

“This is an incredibly expensive and wasteful way to staff maternity units and it simply cannot continue.

"For over a decade now the RCM has warned that an over reliance on temporary staff will inevitably cost more in the long run.”

The RCM sent Freedom of Information requests to all NHS trusts in England with maternity units, of which 123 – 92 per cent – responded.

Of the trusts who responded, 46 admitted using agency staff in 2015 and contributing to the huge £24.95 million spend.

Some £72 million spent on temporary workers and overtime last year could have paid for more than 3,000 permanent staff.

The rise in agency spending comes after Government pledges to clamp down on soaring agency costs in the NHS, which have fuelled record deficit.

Last year, ministers announced caps on spending on agency workers, and on individual pay rates, which came into force last November.

READ MORE: Future of Watford Hospital safe after new hospital ruled out in NHS review

But the new figures, revealed following Freedom of Information requests, show that average rates soared the following month, with average rates reaching £50.58 per hour.

This compares with an average hourly rate of £41.25 across last year.

Around half that money went to agencies for their fees, the report says.

The rates were around four times those paid to newly qualified midwives, and twice those of one with 10 years’ experience.

A NHS Improvement spokesman said: “This report shines a light on one of the ways in which overuse of expensive agency staff is presenting problems for the NHS.

“Over the course of 2015-16, the NHS was on course to spend around £4 billion on agency staff, which is why we introduced the agency controls and price cap last October.

“Trusts have made good progress and saved over £600 million since last year,” he said.

The trust was approached for a comment.

Highest spenders on agency midwives, 2015

• West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust: £2.25m
• Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £1.93m
• University Hospitals Of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust: £1.85m
• Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £1.71m
• St George's Healthcare NHS Trust: £1.62m
• King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £1.5m
• Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust: £1.32m
• Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £1.20m
• Croydon Health Services NHS Trust: £930,586.
• London North West Healthcare NHS Trust: £908,367