DORSET is facing a nursing ‘recruitment crisis’ and is on track to spend twice as much on agency nurses as last year.

The Royal College of Nursing has released figures today revealing that Dorset County Hospital spent £1m on agency costs for nursing staff in the first six months of 2015 – the same as for the whole of last year. It equates to more than £5,800 per day.

Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust, which manages mental health and community services, spent £3.6m on agency nurses from January to June this year – £19,900 per day. The trust spent £3.7m in 2014.

DCH has pledged to reduce agency staff and recruit more nurses to combat what it says is a ‘national shortage’.

A spokesman said: “We have a number of plans in place to reduce the use of agency staff. We are working hard to recruit and retain staff to meet our staffing needs – proactively recruiting to vacancies, attending jobs fairs, supporting newly qualified nurses and working on career pathways to keep staff at DCH.

“We are facing the same difficulties as other hospitals with the national shortage of registered nurses being well recognised. Using agency staff is always a last resort; we recognise that our staff provide better continuity of care to our patients - however on occasions we do need to resort to using agency to ensure that our patients are cared for safely.”

RCN regional director Jeannett Martin said that for every student nursing place filled in universities, up to 20 prospective candidates are turned away.

“There is a recruitment crisis in nursing. Not enough nurses are being trained and many are choosing to leave the NHS – to retire early; to work for agencies which offer more flexible hours or to move abroad where nurses are better rewarded.”

The figures reveal a growing trend of reliance on agency staff across the South West.

In 2010 Dorset County Hospital and Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust spent a similar amount on agency staff – £726,638 and £784,224 respectively. In 2012 DCH had reduced this figure to £461,443. This figure more than doubled in 2013, when £1.3m was spent on agency nurses.

The spend for Dorset Healthcare University has increased steadily since 2010.

A spokesperson from Dorset HealthCare said: “The challenges highlighted by the Royal College of Nursing are faced by Trusts nationally and this position is reflected locally. Our key priority is to ensure that our patients receive high quality, safe and effective care. Due to the recruitment issues we are facing highlighted in the RCN report this does require us to use agency nurses when absolutely necessary.

“We are working hard to improve on the recruitment and retention of our nursing staff and have introduced a wide range of initiatives and incentives to help achieve this. In addition to advertising outside the local area, attending conferences and hosting open days, we have introduced new return to work benefits, nursing secondment opportunities and looking at more flexible working options to retain our workforce and support a healthy work life balance.”

Cllr Ian Gardner, Dorset County Council’s representative on DCH’s board of governors, said: “Our hospital has been making stringent efforts to recruit more nurses, even looking abroad to do so. If we were able to recruit and retain sufficient staff we would be able to use the savings for improved service delivery.

"However when staff are unavailable due, for example to sickness, we need to be able to get people in to cover for them in order that we can continue to look after our patients and not cancel admissions.

"Were staff recruitment easier it might be possible to consider having more in house staff to cover absences."