NHS: Agency Medical Staff

Lord Kamall Excerpts

Wednesday 9th September 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

I will certainly take away the points that the noble Lord raised, but I do not recognise his description of reshuffling, not least because the requirements on local health providers to reduce agency expenditure are quite clear. They have to report against them and drive further reductions. Those moneys are directed into front-line care. After all, that is what we all want to see.

[Lord Kamall (Con)]

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Davies for raising this important point. I will touch on a number of issues that have been drawn together. Within the NHS, there are three very different categories of non-permanent staff—agency, bank and temporary staff—each with different implications for the continuity of care, as my noble friend referred to. Given that agency staff are supplied externally, bank staff are supplied from the trust’s own books and temporary staff are moved between services, can the Minister tell the House whether her department monitors the impact of each of these differences on the continuity of care for patients, including whether patients can see the same doctor, if possible? If so, where is that data available?

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Lord has welcomed our emphasis on the continuity of care. It is the best form of healthcare that we can offer. The only way to do that properly is through an established NHS workforce. The reality is, as noble Lords will be very aware, that there are times that we need to use some type of temporary cover in order to secure patient safety. The main thing is that we are committed—and it will be delivered through the workforce plan—to a more settled workforce and a workforce that can properly provide the care that we need. We are not yet in that place, but the steps that we are taking will get us there.