HEALTH chiefs in the north are spending more than £1million a month on locum doctors, shock new figures have revealed.
The “eye-watering” £3.3million bill for April-June has prompted calls for NHS Highland to reduce it dependency on temporary staff and improve its recruitment.
The number of locums working in the north has increased in recent years as the health board has struggled to attract suitable candidates.
Now critics say the high wages on offer for stand-in doctors could be deterring people from taking on full-time roles.
North MSP Rhoda Grant said: “Their level of dependency on locums is just huge, due to the lack of available trained staff, but there is an issue here.
“If you are a locum and see that you can earn a high amount of money, why would you apply for a full-time post?
“The amounts of money paid are eye-watering and it does put temptation before doctors.”
Earlier this week it emerged that junior doctor training at Caithness General Hospital in Wick had been suspended after a locum consultant quit her position.
Her decision to resign means there are not enough consultants to allow training to be carried out.
Four junior doctors had to be relocated elsewhere in the north as a result.
There are also fears that nurses could be lured away from the health service by so-called “golden hellos” being offered by a national agency.
Newcross Healthcare Solutions is offering £500 to nurses willing to work in the private care sector in Inverness, Elgin, Forres, Invergordon, Nairn and Strathpeffer.
Eben Wilson, director of Taxpayer Scotland, said the issues showed local health boards needed more flexibility to run services that suit the needs of their areas.
“Staff planning across the NHS has become extremely inefficient,” he said.
“The problems with our huge ‘one size fits all’ health service are coming home to roost.
“Local boards need a lot more freedom for plan for the future.”
An NHS Highland spokesman said various schemes to improve recruitment were underway.
The board ran a campaign in the north of England and has even advertised in Holland for medics in an attempt to take advantage of the air links between Inverness and Amsterdam.
In a report due to be discussed tomorrow, finance director Nick Kenton reveals the £3.3million locum bill for April-June.
Board members will be told that reducing the use of temporary staff could have a significant impact in reducing a forecast overspend of £5million on a revenue budget of £766million.
So far NHS Highland is £2million overspent on its budget but Mr Kenton is forecasting it is on course to break even this year.
He adds: “Work is ongoing to look at the arrangements with locum agencies with a view to obtaining a better price for locums provided.”
Mr Kenton said waiting list initiatives required for meeting treatment time guarantees represented an additional cost pressure for Raigmore, which would have to be managed either in the hospital or across the whole organisation.
Among the locum positions currently offered on NHS Scotland’s recruitment website are a year-long training speciality registrar in general medicine at Raigmore Hospital at up to £48,123 a year.
There is also a locum position for a junior doctor, also at Raigmore, at £851 per week.