HOSPITAL chiefs are trying to limit the use of agency nurses, as a patient complained some of them “couldn’t care less”.
Ryan Mellett, 73, asked a hospital board meeting why temporary staff are regularly being used on the wards.
He was told by health chiefs at a public meeting last week: “We are using agency nurses at the moment mainly in areas where it’s difficult to recruit.
“It’s a particular issue for us, not just in expenditure but in terms of quality and consistency of care....However, there will always be a need to use temporary staff.”
Mr Mellett, who attends hospital regularly for a skin condition, replied: “You’ve mentioned it there - the quality of them.
"Nurses just couldn’t care less with us...that’s a generalisation, [but] you’ve got to try and stop it or put some good nurses in there.
“I’m an older persons’ champion and I’m getting people telling me about it. I really do want you to take that on board and try and do something about it please.”
Chief nurse Lynne Swiatczak said: “We use a national health service agency, [and] we recruit and train them. Agency nurses don’t run our wards...They are monitored on each shift.
“Where concerns are raised we deal with them very quickly. It isn’t something I want to continue, we are trying to minimise this.”
Hospital board papers show more than 350 agency staff, including nurses, are being used each month by Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, which controls Wycombe, Amersham and Stoke Mandeville hospitals. The trust employs about 4,700 permanent staff.
Temporary staff, for which the hospitals pay a higher hourly rate, are used for increased workloads, as well as to plug gaps in the workforce due to vacancies and sickness absence.
There has recently been pressure to clear a backlog of patients, while there are currently 95 vacancies for qualified nurses.
Board members are hopeful the backlog will soon be cleared, while 30 new nurses are set to be joining the trust in the coming weeks.
