Health and Social Care

Is it not true that the NHS’s greatest resource, and indeed greatest cost, is its staff? Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust overspent on staff by £24 million last year, and at the end of the financial year 12% of all its spending was going on agency and “bank” staff. While it is completely right to clamp down on the ludicrous overspend on agency staffing, does this not reflect the reality of cuts in training and of an attitude to staff pay by the Government? Does my right hon. Friend agree that we will not deal with agency staff without having a better deal for the recruitment and retention of permanent staff in the NHS?