SOUTHEND Hospital spent more than £8.2million on agency staff last year and a lack of joined-up planning is being blamed for the bill.

In the first six months of this financial year it has already run up a bill of almost £4.5million.

The figures have come out from a Freedom of Information request by the Echo.

Agency staff are employed by hospitals to cover staff sickness in any department and for covering vacant positions during recruitment.

They are paid per hour and are more costly than permanent contracted staff, due to the fees charged by the agencies.

A report by Brian Shipley, director of finance, to the hospital’s board of directors last month said some posts had been hard to fill and the situation had arisen through a lack of joined-up planning.

Dean Jones, branch secretary for Unison, has called for the situation on staff vacancies to be clarified.

He said: “This is concerning. They have increased the job cuts to 400 members of full time staff over a three-year period.

“We have only this week asked them about getting some statistics on when a vacancy has not been filled and why not.

“At a time when they need to be making savings, cutting back on employing agency staff is important. Staff costs make up 60 per cent of the total budget spend, so it should be well on its way to making these cuts.”

The highest spend on agency staff was £1.39million in Accident and Emergency last year. In the six months to September, the hospital spent £779,227 in A&E.

The second highest spend was on cleaners with £1.15million spent year. In the six months to September, it so far stands at £625,068.

The hospital spokesman admitted agency staff costs amount to five per cent of its staff costs’ budget and is higher than it would like.

He said it is actively recruiting to fill posts in order to reduce the agency wage bill.

Among those having to use agency staff more recently are the neonatal intensive care unit which by September had already spent £41,680 compared to £14,108 during the whole of last year.