HCL Nursing in partnership with the Royal College of Nursing have created a research paper, aimed at exploring the dependency on agency nursing in the UK and the viewpoint of agency nurses themselves. The steep rise in the NHS’ spend on agency workers has led to the recent introduction of agency caps, limiting the amount that trusts can spend on agency staff. While the subject is regularly in the spotlight, the agency workers themselves are rarely given a voice.
Our study looks at the kind of work agency nurses do and their working patterns, as well as the motivations for choosing agency work over a permanent role. It also examines the impact of the recent cap on agency staffing spend imposed by the Department of Health in England.
Our research is split into two phases. The first phase looks at a sample of placements assigned to HCL Nursing clients across a 12 month period, enabling us to examine the market and explore what is driving demand and supply. The second phase consists of a survey of our candidates and explores their last assignment and motivations for working through HCL Nursing.
The shortage of nurses in the UK driving the dependence on agency nursing is well documented in the media. HCL has long highlighted this, and successfully campaigned to have nurses added to the Shortage Occupation List in October 2015.
