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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Severin Carrell Scotland editor

Scottish NHS boards pay up to £837 an hour for locums amid psychiatry crisis

Jane Morris in front of chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists  banner
Jane Morris, chair of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in Scotland: ‘The agency locum question reflects a real crisis in the Scottish psychiatric workforce.’ Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Scotland’s health boards have paid up to £837 an hour for locum psychiatrists to help cope with a deepening staff shortage crisis in mental health services.

They have been charged more than £130m by dozens of private health care companies to provide temporary psychiatrists over the past five years, including one firm now owned by two billionaires from Texas.

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