Question reference: S6W-10584
- Asked by: Alex Rowley, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 25 August 2022
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 27 September 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what work it has done to develop and set up a publicly owned nursing agency to assist NHS boards when they have staffing shortages.
Answer
It is important that NHS Boards can call on additional staffing when required, in order to deal with the exigencies of the service. It is for NHS Boards to decide when the additional support represented by agency staffing is required but the Scottish Government is clear that Boards should always make use of NHS bank staff as a first choice and the majority of additional staffing needs are met through NHS Scotland’s well established bank system. These act as, de facto, in house agencies. We have over 35,000 nurses registered on NHS Scotland Staff Banks. It would not be appropriate for the Scottish Government to establish a commercial agency. Combined spending on all agency staff (medical and nursing) remains less than 1% of the overall NHS Scotland budget.