Contractors have valuable role to play in NHS

The importance of having contractors available to work in the NHS has been highlighted by Andrew Horner.

Mr Horner, the chair of the healthcare department at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, observed: “Agency staff in the NHS play a pivotal role in delivering services to patients and in supporting the core workforce to ensure that workloads and stress levels are manageable.”

His statement came in response to comments from Andy Burnham. The shadow health secretary had stated in a recent article in the Daily Mirror that the Department for Health is spending too much on agency staff.

While it is true that around £3 million has been spent on such workers in the past three months, Mr Horner deemed Mr Burnham's suggestion to be "hugely disrespectful to the individual temporary workers who perform crucial front-line roles and make a significant contribution”.

He added that contractors in the health service are "part of the solution, not part of the problem" and praised them for providing an essential service while reminding the government that it is essential to keep a close eye on its staffing expenditure.