NHS hospital spent £5,200 on agency doctor's shift - full list in your area

The Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust - which runs hospitals in Salford, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury - spent £5,234 on a shift of a locum doctor in a context of shortage of health services personnel

One in three hospital trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 for a doctor's shift alone last year, figures show (

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An NHS hospital has paid over £5,200 for a locum doctor to cover a single shift as health service staff shortages worsen.

Last year, one in three hospital trusts paid an agency more than £3,000 to move a single doctor, while three quarters spent more than £2,000.

The most expensive bill was £5,234, paid for one shift by the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust in Greater Manchester.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Salford, Oldham, Rochdale and Bury, spent a total of £21million on agency doctors last year alone.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust spent £4,464 on a shift, Isle of Wight NHS Trust £4,087, Wye Valley NHS Trust £3,976 and Queen Elizabeth Hospital King's Lynn NHS Foundation Trust £3,911 £.

Labour's Wes Streeting, who unveiled the figures, called on ministers to increase the number of places in medical schools so the country can train enough doctors.

Labour's Wes Streeting has pledged to double the number of places in medical schools (

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The Shadow Health Secretary said: 'Desperate hospitals are being forced to pay extortionate fees to agencies because the Tories have failed to train enough doctors and nurses for the past 12 years.

"Maddeningly, while taxpayers are paying more than agency doctors, the government has cut medical school places, turning away thousands of straight students in England.

"The work will tackle the root cause of the crisis in the NHS, training 7,500 more doctors and 10,...