Last month, it was revealed McKinsey and Co had advised the NHS to cut the equivalent of 137,000 jobs. However, agencies say cutting its provision would be disastrous.
According to specialist health and social care staffing company HCL, agency healthcare staff cost taxpayers far less than full-time public- sector workers, as they are only paid for the hours they work and do not receive expensive pension provision and other public-sector benefits. Of the £54 billion that was spent on paying NHS staff in 2007-08, only 1.8% was spent on clinical agency staff.
James Parsons, managing director of healthcare recruiter Arrow Group added: "Many negative preconceptions about agencies and their staff originate from a time when less reputable agencies could work with little restriction. With fixed costs such as pensions, sick leave, absenteeism and the increasing back-office and administrative requirements, the actual price differentiator between full-time NHS and temporary agency staff is shrinking all the time."
This news comes as research given exclusively to HR magazine reveals what HR directors actually want from their recruitment agencies.
Asset Resourcing polled 100 HR directors and found the top annoyance was the high volume of cold calls (by 42% of respondents). This was followed by ‘not listening' (19%), submitting speculative CVs (10%) and sending in unsolicited emails (10%).
The top attributes HR directors wanted from agencies was ‘to listen' (11%); preparing candidates before their interviews (9%); and ‘saving me time' (7%).
