MORE than half of doctors' A&E Christmas shifts were covered by locums at Royal Bolton Hospital, new figures show.

The data was obtained by Sky News through a Freedom of Information request.

A total of 75 of 140 hospital trust responded to the request, asking for data on staffing of accident and emergency departments between December 24 last year and January 1.

Airedale NHS Foundation Trust filled 71% of shifts with locum doctors during that period, while locums worked 58% of shifts at Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust and 52% at Royal Bolton Hospital.

This winter has seen an unprecedented demand on A&E services, with two weeks in December having the two highest attendance figures ever recorded for a winter period.

Last month, details uncovered by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) estimated the NHS is on course to spend £1 billion on agency nursing staff by the end of the year due to a "payday loan attitude towards workforce planning".

Some hospitals also paid up to £3,200 for doctors to cover shifts in accident and emergency departments over Christmas and the New Year.

The highest amount paid was £3,258 by United Lincolnshire NHS Trust for a doctor to work for 24 hours, while Royal Berkshire NHS Trust paid £1,875 to an agency for a nurse to work a single shift, according to the figures.

Dr Clifford Mann, president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, told the broadcaster: "Market forces really are quite extreme currently, with the lack of permanent people to employ.

"It means hospitals are desperate to try to find people to fill these slots and are having to pay super premium rates for that to happen.

"It can be very demoralising to be working alongside somebody with much less experience, much more junior, who is earning a multiple income compared to you in terms of the pounds paid per hour."

Heather Edwards, head of communications at Royal Bolton Hospital, said: "It is important to note that these locum doctors were not covering consultant shifts, and that they were not – as is sometimes supposed – unknown doctors working just one or two shifts.

"In fact they were here on longer contracts to cover vacancies – there is a national shortage of doctors in emergency care.  

"This is reflected in the number of other hospitals using locum cover.  

"Our priority was and is the safety of our patients and having the right levels of staff to care for them."