MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Doctors in the United Kingdom benefit from National Health System (NHS) staff shortages by working as locum doctors, receiving over $2,600 a day for their services, according to a parliamentary inquiry published Tuesday.
The UK Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the country’s bill for agency staff is now estimated at 2.6 billion pounds ($3.9 billion).
Recruiting trainee doctors and nurses cost the British government a lot, compounded by the fact that many medics then subsequently leave the NHS to work on an agency basis that is far more profitable for them.
Some UK hospitals, such as those in Barking, Havering and Redbridge, have no other option than to hire locum doctors, as they only have half of the permanent staff needed to cope with the number of patients in the emergency department, The Guardian said.
NHS is the United Kingdom's publicly funded health care system, comprising NHS England, Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. The NHS England is its biggest entity, with 1.3 million employees, including over 40,000 general practitioners, 350,000 nurses and 18,500 ambulance staff.
