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Article: Nurse crisis costs London [pound]500m in agency staff.
- Article from:
- The Evening Standard (London, England)
- Article date:
- September 5, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Solo Syndication Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: ZOE MORRIS
LONDON hospitals are being forced to spend almost half a billion pounds a year just to keep the service going because of the severe shortage of NHS nurses.
The cost to the health service of relying on unregulated agencies to provide temporary staff and the huge disparity in wages paid to NHS and agency nurses are laid bare for the first time today in a report by the Audit Commission.
The report, called Brief Encounter, reveals: Nurses working for agencies can earn up to three times more than their NHS colleagues and more on weekends and bank holidays The average hourly rate for agency nurses working in London is 20 per cent ...