HYWEL Dda Health Board has insisted it is working to cut the costs of employing agency staff, after figures showed a massive 182 per cent increase in agency spending from 2014/15 to 2015/16.

Figures revealed under a Freedom of Information request by the Welsh Conservatives showed that Hywel Dda had seen the biggest rise in spending on agency staff in Wales despite a drop in the amount spent on medical and dental locums.

In 2014/15, Hywel Dda spent over £5.6m on agency staff, but that soared to £15.8m in 2015/16. There had been a drop from £1.89m in 2014/15 to £1.52m in 2015/16 in spending on medial and dental locums - a reduction of 19.8 per cent. But the spending on agency nursing and healthcare staff went from £3.57m in 2014/15 to £13.39m in 2015/16, a massive increase of 274 per cent.

While Hywel Dda’s overall spending on agency costs was lower than three health boards - Betsi Cadwaladr, Abertawe Bro Morgannwg and Aneurin Bevan - Lisa Gostling, the director of workforce and organisational development, admitted the board’s spending on agency staff needed to be addressed.

Ms Gostling said: “We recognise fully the increase in spending on agency staff over the past year. There are a number of factors that have contributed to this increase, including the recruitment challenges that rural hospitals face nationally.

“In our health board area we face the additional challenge of a population with complex health care needs and a national contract for agency nurses that has until recently had difficulty meeting our requirements in west Wales; we are pleased that this position is now improving however. As a result of these combined issues, our costs are higher than most other health boards in Wales.

“We have taken steps to address this, including continuing our successful recruitment campaign, which we hope to see the benefit of in the coming months.”

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