Careers
Trusts spend 25 times more on locum fees than on recruiting for permanent posts
BMJ 2016; 354 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i4359 (Published 08 August 2016) Cite this as: BMJ 2016;354:i4359
- Abi Rimmer
- BMJ Careers
- arimmer{at}bmj.com
NHS acute trusts in England are each spending nearly 25 times as much on locum agency fees as they spend on recruiting doctors to permanent positions, figures obtained by BMJ Careers show.
Information obtained through freedom of information requests showed that, on average in 2015, trusts spent £1.4m on locum agency fees and £55 000 on recruiting doctors to permanent positions. The data also showed that each trust spent an average of £5.8m on employing locum doctors.
BMJ Careers sent freedom of information requests to the 154 acute trusts in England and received 65 responses …