The NHS will need to significantly increase its use of flexible staffing if a public sector spending cut leads to a significant reduction in headcount among permanent frontline staff, according to healthcare recruiter HCL.

Consultants McKinsey and Company has advised the Department of Health that the NHS in England would need to cut its workforce by 10% (around 137,000 jobs) if it is to achieve planned £20bn savings by 2014. 

Kate Bleasdale (pictured), executive vice chairman of HCL, says: “This report highlights an important issue. HCL has consistently pointed out that the NHS simply cannot sustain the current level of spending on full-time staff.

“Agency healthcare staff cost the taxpayer far less than full-time public sector workers, as they are only paid for the hours that they work and do not receive the hugely expensive pension provisions and other public sector benefits. Of the £54bn which was spent on paying NHS staff in 2007-08, only 1.8% was spent on clinical agency staff.

“More and more of our clients are now recognising that agency staff are an extremely cost-effective option and many NHS Trusts now have a policy of deliberately maintaining an appropriate vacancy factor in their workforce so they can manage staff numbers efficiently to meet the peaks and troughs of demand for clinical services. We have always advised that the optimum vacancy factor should be 10-15%.

“The fact is that the planned usage of agency staff is integral to NHS workforce management and will become more so as public sector budgetary constraints make themselves felt in the years ahead.  It’s time the government recognised this and made it easier for Trusts to work directly with agencies and get the staff they need to maintain frontline services for patients.”