London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Hospitals in England pay £5,200 for one agency doctor's shift

Hospitals in England pay £5,200 for one agency doctor's shift

Hospitals in England have paid out as much as £5,200 for a shift by a doctor through an agency, according to figures obtained by Labour through Freedom of Information requests.
That is the latest in an intensifying debate over workforce shortages in the NHS in England.

Labour blamed the high agency fees on Conservatives, arguing they had failed to train enough doctors and nurses.

A Conservative spokesperson said "record numbers" had been recruited.

The information on payments for agency workers comes from Freedom of Information requests to NHS trusts in England made by Labour covering the financial year 2021/22.

The most expensive reported shift was £5,234 - paid by a trust in northern England. This covers the agency fee and other employer costs as well as the money going to the doctor.

There was a response rate of about 40% of major hospital trusts in England. Labour says one in three of those who responded paid an agency more than £3,000 for a single doctor's shift last year, while three quarters paid more than £2,000.

The NHS Confederation said the "staffing crisis" was so "desperate" that NHS trusts were being forced to pay large fees to make sure rotas were "staffed safely".

Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: "Trusts are having to breach the caps on how much they pay for agency doctors because of the extremely high levels of demand they are facing for their services.

"The staffing crisis is so desperate that they either pay these fees or find that their rotas cannot be staffed safely, leading to reduced services for patients. This is particularly true in parts of the country where the NHS can struggle to recruit new staff."

Labour's shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: "Desperate hospitals are forced to pay rip-off fees to agencies, because the Conservatives have failed to train enough doctors and nurses over the past 12 years."

Mr Streeting said that, if elected, Labour would train 7,500 more doctors and 10,000 more nurses a year, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status - the status which allows UK residents whose permanent homes are abroad not to pay UK tax on overseas income.

A Conservative spokesperson said 4,000 more doctors and 9,000 more nurses had been hired since September 2021.

They added: "Labour cannot be trusted to support our NHS - they have no plan to grip inflation, resolve strikes or boost the workforce."

In November, BBC News revealed that spending on agency health workers in England rose by 20% to £3 billion last year.

Some NHS bosses told us how they had to breach government pay cap guidelines to ensure staffing ratios were maintained.

The cap is set at 55% above what a normal employee would earn. One cancer specialist told BBC News he was offered work for £130 an hour and described the fees available as "astonishing".

Previously reported figures suggest spending also appears to be rising in other parts of the UK.

In Scotland it has doubled in the past year, while in Wales it has risen by more than 40%. In Northern Ireland, it is four times higher than it was three years ago.

In response to the latest findings, Miriam Deakin of NHS Providers, representing trusts in England, said: "Funding is very tight but agency costs will remain part of the picture while staff are in short supply. Trusts are doing all they can to avoid unnecessary costs".

NHS England is to publish a long-term workforce plan in the spring to present to ministers who will decide how to fund it.

The medical director of NHS England, Sir Steve Powis, told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the NHS needed more staff and "if you ask me personally, when it comes to doctors, we need more medical student places".
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×