“By not providing these crucial skills the NHS is risking the safety of both patients and nurses, and I have asked Patricia Hewitt to let me know how she intends to put this right”.

Mr Bacon, a member of the Commons public accounts committee, took action as the committee published its report into the use of temporary nursing staff. The report finds that some 30 per cent of permanent nursing staff have not received training in basic life support, infection control, moving and handling patients or what to do in the event of a fire.

Although the number of nurses employed by the NHS has risen, the number of shifts filled and the amount the Health Service spent on temporary nursing staff also continued to increase until 2002–03. Despite a decrease over the last two years, the number of shifts filled and the amount spent remains higher than in 2000–01.

There is poor information on the factors driving demand for temporary nursing staff across the NHS and no strategy for controlling their use. Action has been taken to improve the quality and cost of temporary staff, but this has been driven by the need to tackle financial deficits.

Mr Bacon added: “Local NHS managers need to know what is driving their demand for temporary staff and be sure that it is not masking poor management of staff. The irony is that, had the NHS not slid deep into the red, local NHS bosses would not have had to face up to this problem”.

7 June 2007

Further Information

The percentage of substantive and bank nurses who had received mandatory training in the twelve months prior to September 2005

Source: National Audit Office, Improving the use of temporary nursing staff in NHS acute and foundation trusts, page 37, figure 23.