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Guernsey agency staff accommodation cost £800k in 2022

PA Media Medical staff in a hospital hallwayPA Media
Deputy Al Brouard said using agency staff was a "necessity" to ensure the essential services the community relies on were delivered

Guernsey's health committee spent £800,000 on accommodation for temporary staff in 2022.

That was on top of £11.8m on wages to cover vacancies across Health and Social Care (HSC).

At a scrutiny hearing in February it was revealed some agency staff were being housed in local hotels.

HSC President Al Brouard said the high costs showed why the States needed to find more sites to build houses for health staff.

"The costs of doing so do illustrate the importance of the States identifying sites where we can build key worker accommodation, which in turn will play a crucial role in supporting our efforts to recruit permanent staff to move to the island," he said.

HSC's figures showed the cost of hiring agency staff in the adult services sector had almost doubled from £3.31m in 2021 to £5.11m in 2022.

Deputy Brouard was keen to stress the importance of agency staff in filling gaps in service: "Utilising agency staff to fill in where there are staffing gaps is a necessity to ensure we maintain an acceptable level of staffing to deliver the essential services our community relies on."

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