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Scottish NHS spent over £900m on temps in five years
A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward at Ealing Hospital in London

A “FAILURE to recruit and retain front-line staff” has led the Scottish NHS to fork out more than £900 million on agency nurses and locum doctors since 2019, Scottish Labour said yesterday.

Figures obtained by the party under freedom of information laws show health boards spent £521m on agency nurses and £400m on locum consultant doctors between April 2019 and September 2024.

A Scottish government spokesperson said it was “working with colleagues across NHS Scotland to explore how we can reduce our reliance on agency staffing.”

But adding that the spending amounted to a “tiny fraction” of NHS Scotland’s £10bn-a-year pay bill, they said: “The use of temporary staff in an organisation as large and complex as NHS Scotland will always be required to ensure vital service provision during times of unplanned absence, sickness and increased unforeseen activity.”

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