Health Secretary announces new restrictions on NHS agency staff

New restrictions on the use of agency staff have been introduced, Health Secretary Michael Matheson said, as he told MSPs how the twin pressures of inflation and high energy bills were placing a “significant strain” on the NHS.

With figures having shown that more than £26 million was spent on agency workers between December 1 2022 and February 28 this year, Mr Matheson said restrictions had been introduced “over the course of the last month”.

NHS boards are now being encouraged to use bank staff – who are on NHS contracts – rather than more expensive agency workers.

Mr Matheson told MSPs on Holyrood’s Health Committee: “In the last 12 months there has been a bit of a spike in agency staff which have been used.”

He said this was “largely a reflection of some of the significant challenges the NHS has been facing during the course of the pandemic”, adding that some of the recruitment issued being faced by NHS boards had “resulted in them making greater use of agency staff”.

The Health Secretary added: “We have applied some additional restrictions to them in the course of the last month, in order to reduce our agency spend.”

Mr Matheson stressed that overall spending on agency staff was “relatively small”, telling the committee it accounted for less than 2% of the overall NHS budget.

But he added: “We have applied some restrictions to boards to make sure they are focusing more on using bank staff where necessary.”

His comments came as he said the health service was having to deal with high inflation and energy costs – saying these were “having an impact”.

Mr Matheson told the committee: “I’m not going to sit here and try to pretend our NHS doesn’t face significant challenges just now.”

But he said the Scottish Government was “well ahead of trajectory” on a spending commitment given by First Minister Humza Yousaf when he was health secretary, to increase NHS spending by 20% over the course of this parliamentary term.

Mr Matheson said: “My predecessor gave a commitment to increasing health spending in this parliamentary term by 20%. We’re actually well ahead on that. We’re well ahead of trajectory on where we should be at.”

This he said “demonstrates a determination to try to provide as much financial support as possible” as he spoke about the challenges facing the NHS.

The Health Secretary stated: “Inflation is having an impact on the NHS across a whole range of different areas, from the procurement of food, through to drugs, though to equipment, through to maintenance costs.

“All areas of the NHS by and large are impacted by inflation costs, alongside energy costs, which are having an impact.

“That is placing a very significant strain on NHS budgets as a result.”

Mr Matheson continued: “Our health service is experiencing the same challenge that other parts of the public sector are experiencing.

“We’re going through a period of austerity, which is having a direct impact on the Scottish Government’s budget.

“We’re also going through a period where we are experiencing a very significant increase in the costs associated with running public services because of inflation, and the impact that has on public service, all of which are having an impact on our budget.

“And we are still dealing with the consequences of the pandemic which means there are still costs associated with Covid-19.”

However he said with the UK Government no longer providing specific Covid funding, the Scottish Government was “having to meet that from core budgets now”.