News / Positive signs on locum fee curb

There are further signs that the price caps introduced to reduce the agency staff bill are working, according to financial and workforce services provider Liaison.

NHS Improvement has already said the caps are working, saving £600m in the first year, but trusts have reported that the locum medical bill is particularly tough to crack. 

Now, Liaison’s latest quarterly Taking the temperature report has found that for locum consultants the proportion of hours that exceeded pay caps dropped from 84% in quarter one to 64% in the second quarter. 

The analysis, which looks at four medical grades (consultant, ST3, FY2 and staff grade), is drawn from information generated by its workforce management services, which is used by 60 trusts.

Hourly rates across the medical staff groups remained above caps. The overall locum average hourly pay and commission rates rose in the second quarter of 2016/17, but this was due to an increase in the total number of hours worked. However, commission paid to agencies rose by 1.5% during the quarter. 

Andrew Armitage (pictured right), Liaison’s managing director, said: ‘Although total hourly rates paid by trusts across the four main grades of staff remain higher than the price caps, it is positive to see average pay rates for consultants have decreased for the second quarter.

‘It is also worth noting that we are seeing progress in hours worked over the NHS Improvement price caps in comparison to last quarter with 64% of total hours worked exceeding the caps as opposed to 84% in quarter one.’