The NHS is in dire need of freelancers and contractors working in the healthcare field in order to provide proper levels of care, according to one expert.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation’s vice chair of healthcare, Alyx Peters, said that the only way to both control costs for the NHS and ensure that safety and quality standards remain high is to use the kinds of flexible working arrangements that can be provided by umbrella service contractors. Embracing freelancers and contract workers will afford the flexibility the NHS needs to respond effectively to unexpected circumstances, Ms Peters said.
The role of both temporary and locum staff simply cannot be understated when it comes to ensuring dynamic public service development and improving care provision in the UK, according to the REC vice chair. Freelancers and contractors are the lifeblood of the NHS, Ms Peters added, remarking that slashing the budget line for interim staff would be a terrible mistake.
A lack of clinical staff in hospital wards could lead to patients paying the price, explained Ms Peters, especially since those overworked staff that remain would be working long shifts with little rest or respite, resulting in a nearly inevitable spate of clinical negligence claims. The cost of increasing the number of temporary and locum staff throughout NHS facilities throughout the UK would doubtlessly be much less expensive than having to face a raft of compensation claims, experts say, meaning that a contract worker recruitment drive not only keeps patients safe but makes absolutely perfect economic sense.
