Agency Nurses

Baroness Masham of Ilton Excerpts

Wednesday 10th January 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The noble Baroness is quite right that agency staff are sometimes used to fill vacancies—about nine out of 10 vacancies are filled in that way. The key is to make sure that they are used in a proper, planned way that is not expensive. The point about the “break glass” clause is that the rules that exist to cap agency spend can be broken where there is a need and where that need is approved by the trust for patient safety purposes. That is an important feature of the system.

[Baroness Masham of Ilton (CB)]

My Lords, in this present crisis, are more nurses taking advantage of the “break glass” clause?

[Lord O'Shaughnessy]

The number of uses of the “break glass” clause has actually fallen since April 2016, which was the peak. This shows that there has been a much more planned use of bringing in extra staff as they are needed, rather than an ad hoc response, which was what it was designed to address.