Humza Yousaf has been told nurses are being lured to “profiteering” agencies because of his failure to restart pay negotiations. Labour MSP Alex Rowley has called on the Health Secretary to get civil servants back to the table and resolve the dispute.
He has also warned private agencies, which cost far more to the NHS than directly employed nursing staff, are attempting to capitalise on the stalemate by offering to pay much higher wages. One advert for agency staff boasts they “pay nurses the rates they deserve”, while others offer up to £650 per shift.
Last month, trade union members voted to reject a five per cent pay offer for nursing staff, saying it was not enough with the rise in inflation. In a letter to Yousaf, Rowley wrote: “I heard from trade unions this week that no meetings have yet been set up to advance the talks and to put a fairer offer on the table for discussion and negotiation.
“I want to draw your attention to the growth in agencies which profiteer from charging NHS Boards over-the-top rates for staff and who are advertising for trained nurses – those very same nurses trained in the NHS by the NHS – with statements such as, ‘We pay nurses a rate they deserve’.” Rowley told Yousaf it was “ridiculous that you are refusing to pay NHS staff the rate they deserve but are willing to see private sector providers profit from charges to NHS Boards desperate for agency staff”.
He added spending on agency staff by the NHS had soared by more than 800 per cent in the past decade. The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP said: “While you as Health Secretary are refusing to pay NHS nurses the rate for the job, agencies overcharging NHS Boards are more than willing to do just that.
"Can you not see that with over 6000 whole-time equivalent vacancies in nursing and midwifery, your refusal to pay the rate for the job is simply going to make matters worse and will simply further increase the need for agencies to plug the gaps, costing the NHS more and more money?” The Royal College of Nursing is to ballot its members on industrial action next month, demanding staff receive a five per cent above inflation rise instead of five per cent.
That would be the equivalent of around a 15 per cent increase. Yousaf said: “Our NHS Agenda for Change workforce, which includes nursing and midwifery staff, porter staff, and therapy staff, are at a record high level and have long had the best pay and conditions in the UK.
“We have already made contact with trade unions to confirm we will re-engage with them and hope to reach a satisfactory outcome.”
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