Medical agencies trying to poach doctors to do NHS locum work are offering £5,000 Rolex watches and luxury holidays for referrals, it emerged last night.
These tactics are causing outrage as the health system is trying to fill 93,000 vacant positions while simultaneously clearing a backlog that includes nearly six million people awaiting treatment.
The NHS is already spending £6billion a year on locum doctors and nurses – some of whom are paid a staggering £4,000 a shift.
The huge payments – and incentives – are being used to encourage full-time staff to switch to locum shifts.
In return for referring a colleague, Pertemps Medical is entering doctors into a draw, with the first prize a Rolex watch or luxury holiday worth £5,000.
Tim Watts (62), chairman of Pertemps agency. Next to a luxurious vintage car
The latest iPad by Apple is awarded to runners-up. Rivals of the recruitment firm are offering £250 Amazon vouchers for referrals or as much £1,300 in cash. Last night, a Conservative MP was also a NHS doctor and condemned the rewards.
‘The NHS needlessly pays out over £6billion a year in agency and locum doctor costs,’ said Dan Poulter, MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.
‘Unfortunately this is another example of the parasitic behaviour of locum agencies who charge the NHS eye-watering commissions for supplying doctors who may only work a shift of a few hours.
‘It is important that hospitals do more to incentivise their own, existing staff, to cover any vacant shifts that may occur – for example by paying a little more, which would still be much less than the cost of using a locum agency.
‘In the longer term the Government must fund the necessary increase in the number of doctors in training.’
Some NHS trusts are collaborating to establish online staff banks, which can fill in gaps between shifts and avoid the use of agencies.
The health care system is saving money because of the locum agency.
The NHS relied heavily on locums even before the pandemic. In 2018, almost one fifth of doctors held temporary positions, according to the General Medical Council.
‘The NHS needlessly pays out over £6billion a year in agency and locum doctor costs,’ said Dan Poulter, MP for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich and doctor at Guys Hospital, London
The 2017 survey revealed that 22% of locum doctors work solely as locums and were effectively freelancers. The remaining 40% have a locum contract that is on top of their NHS contract. This means they can likely work weekends or out-of-hours.
Last week Pertemps was advertising ‘nationwide opportunities’ for locum gastroenterologists in the NHS or private sector offering more than £110 an hour – £1,320 for a 12-hour on-call shift.
High pay rates are an incentive, as the advertisement makes clear. It says locum work may interest doctors who want ‘to work closer to home, broaden your horizons at a new hospital or simply feel you can achieve a higher pay rate’.
Another agency, Triple West Medical, was offering £105 an hour for a locum histopathology consultant in Lancashire and £95 an hour for a locum oral and maxillofacial surgery consultant in Greater Manchester.
It offers a £250 reward for referrals. Under the Pertemps ‘refer and earn’ scheme, a doctor who refers a colleague is entered into a prize draw once the individual has worked 40 hours.
Promoted with a picture of an idyllic tropical beach, the offer’s first prize is ‘a luxury holiday or watch of your choice worth up to £5,000’
Promoted with a picture of an idyllic tropical beach, the offer’s first prize is ‘a luxury holiday or watch of your choice worth up to £5,000’. Job adverts state: ‘An extra bonus for our doctors – don’t forget to check out our brand new referral scheme where you could win a £5,000 holiday, Rolex or an iPad!!’
Daisy Cooper, Liberal Democrat health spokesman, said: ‘These are desperate measures in desperate times. The Government needs to get a grip.’
Pertemps Medical’s managing director Adam Parrish stressed that its commissions are regulated and approved.
‘With the pressure on the NHS and the waiting lists, agencies are providing an essential service in supplying doctors to the NHS to assist in their Covid response and to tackle increasing patient backlogs,’ he said. ‘Our referral schemes are provided at our own expense.’
He said locums increased the number of doctors ‘available to the NHS at a hugely critical time’ and the eventual cost was ‘often’ lower for the health service.
Pertemps is headed by Tim Watts. He’s the son of Constance Watts who founded Pertemps.