7. To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government’s position is on reports of NHS boards spending over £1,500 on a single agency nurse shift. (S5F-00820)

We are clear with boards that they must make every effort to drive agency spending down, but we recognise that there might be times, due to peaks in demand or staff illness, for example, in highly specialised areas, when agency staff are used to ensure safe care of patients. Agency usage in the national health service in Scotland remains very low. It amounted to 0.4 per cent of our nursing and midwifery capacity in 2015-16. To make further progress, we are working with NHS National Services Scotland on a nationally co-ordinated programme for temporary staffing.

I think that my constituents in Lothian will be shocked by the figure and by the fact that some £4.8 million was spent last year on agency nurses and midwives in NHS Lothian alone. That is four times the amount that was spent in 2011-12, just three years ago. A humungous and increasing amount of money is being spent on supposedly temporary measures, and that money cannot be spent on

“investment in our national health service”— to use the First Minister’s words. Surely the First Minister, as a former health minister who was responsible for cutting student nurse places, has the humility to accept some personal responsibility for the situation.

The First Minister:

As I said, spend on agency staffing in the NHS is very low and agency usage amounted to less than half of 1 per cent of nursing and midwifery capacity in 2015-16. As I said earlier, we have increased the number of qualified nurses and midwives who are working in our national health service. We want reliance on agency staffing to reduce even further, which is why we are committed to investing even further in staffing.

I take personal responsibility for everything that is within the responsibility of the Scottish Government. I have not heard the member ask the Prime Minister or the health secretary south of the border to take responsibility for the report in July this year that an NHS trust paid more than £2,000 for a single agency shift.

We will continue to take the action that ensures that our NHS is properly staffed and delivers the excellent care that it delivers to patients across the country.