NHS across UK spends a ‘staggering’ £10bn on temporary staff

Exclusive: Hospitals and GP surgeries forced to rely on agency personnel and paying staff for expensive extra shifts

Ministers are facing calls to tackle the NHS's chronic lack of staff as figures reveal that the bill for hiring temporary frontline workers has soared to more than 10bn a year.

Hospitals and GP surgeries across the UK are paying a record 4.6bn for agency personnel and another 5.8bn for doctors and nurses on staff to do extra bank" shifts to plug gaps in rotas.