BOLTON’S cash-strapped hospital is spending soaring amounts on agency nursing staff, a new report has revealed.

The Royal College of Nursing has reported that between July and September last year Bolton NHS Foundation Trust forked out just under £838,000 on agency nurses — a 41 per cent rise on the amount paid during the same period the year before.

Speaking about the figures, a spokesman for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “Over the past 18 months the Trust has reviewed the number of nursing staff per ward and made increases where necessary.

“There have been some challenges in recruiting the number of staff required to fill vacancies and some of the additional spending on agency staff can be attributed to this.”

The Trust added that the recent increase in winter pressures led to more beds being opened than originally planned meaning more nurses, including agency staff, were needed to cover the additional requirements.

For the same period, Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust spent £502,179 and Stockport NHS Foundation Trust spent £101,656.

The RCN’s regional director for the North West, Stephanie Dunn said: “This report shows the true financial cost of a health service which takes a ‘payday loans’ attitude towards workforce planning, leaving itself at the mercy of agencies paying a high daily rate because it refused to invest sensibly in the past.”

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “The government cut nursing training places and that has obviously led to shortages.

“More people are living longer, with greater needs and instead of reflecting that in terms of NHS funding, they are actually reducing it — this is another tsunami waiting to happen.”