Законодатель призвал Западный доверительный фонд перейти от временных кадров к постоянному штату

FRESH concerns have been raised over the Western Trust’s reliance on temporary staff, with calls for a stronger permanent workforce. Approximately £524 million was spent on locum and agency staff across the health service in 2024/25, with the Western Trust accounting for almost £96 million. The figure was revealed in an Assembly response to MLA Daniel McCrossan, who welcomed efforts to reduce reliance on locum and agency staff across the health service, but said the focus must be on building a permanent workforce capable of delivering safe services. Mr McCrossan said the Western Trust must address its £33.7 million locum and £62 million agency staffing bill, which he said was equivalent to more than 1,000 jobs. “Agency staff have played an important role and have helped keep vital services going, but this cannot be the permanent model for our health service,” he said. He added that proper workforce planning was needed, alongside efforts to recruit and retain experienced staff. However, Save Our Acute Services, SOAS, has criticised the Western Trust’s approach, claiming that workforce planning has been “sadly lacking” over recent years. SOAS pointed specifically to staffing within the consultant surgeon workforce at SWAH, stating: “The last attempt to recruit full-time consultant surgeons to SWAH was in May 2021.” The organisation also questioned the Trust’s assurances over agency spending. “It is obvious that despite increased attempts by the Western Trust to convince political parties and elected representatives that they are managing to control agency and locum costs, that they have in fact risen from £90m to £96m over three years,” SOAS said. The group added: “We can have no confidence in the Trust and their assurances.” SOAS argued that the money being spent on temporary staffing could instead support a much larger permanent workforce, describing the situation as “clearly a management failure”. Mr McCrossan said reducing unnecessary agency spending could free resources for frontline care, but stressed that success would ultimately depend on strengthening permanent staffing levels.