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Press release: NHS Employers response to PAC report on the use of temporary nursing staff07 Jun 2007 Responding to the Public Account Committee's report Improving the use of temporary nursing staff in NHS acute and foundation trusts, Sian Thomas, Deputy Director of NHS Employers said: "There is no doubt that trusts can do more to improve the management of temporary staff in the NHS, but we must acknowledge the significant progress they have made in the last few years. "In a workforce of 1.3 million temporary staff inevitably play an important role in delivering NHS services during periods of absence and change and, in the last few years, trusts have been working hard to better manage the use of, and reduce the reliance on, this expensive resource. We have been working with 26 trusts to help them with this and the results will be published for the rest of the NHS next month. "Patient safety is a priority for employers and it is the responsibility of both the NHS trust and the supplying agency to ensure that all nurses receive and make a record of mandatory health and safety training. PASA specifies training standards that agencies who supply staff to the NHS need to meet. However, there is clearly a need to address the low number of staff receiving basic life support training reported by the Committee and we will highlight this issue in our report for employers. "More and more trusts are now using electronic rostering systems to help with the management of nursing staff rotas and for monitoring hours which have always been a challenge for trusts, especially those with a large number of nursing staff. We will shortly be publishing a guide for trusts to advise them on how they can make the most of this new technology. "Employers are also trying to address the causes of absence which can reduce the need for temporary staff cover. The costs of sickness absence to the NHS are high and we are working with trade unions and other stakeholders to help employers manage staff absence better. We will be issuing new advice to employers about good management of sickness absence as part of the ill-health review later in the year."
Notes for editors
Contact detailsThe press office provides a comprehensive service to keep journalists informed about the work of NHS Employers. If you have a media enquiry, please contact the press office team:
For out of hours media enquiries, please contact the duty press officer on 07880 500726. Last reviewed 8 Jun 2007 |
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