Money spend on locum staff from 2015 to May 2025

​​​​​Request 724437644

a-How much money has been spent on locum staff at Jersey Hospital since 2015 to date? (Please provide the information per year: 2015, 2016, 2017 up until May 2025)

b-Please provide a breakdown, by year, of how many different locums have been brought in in that same period for shifts. 

c-What is the most a locum is paid per hour?

d-What is the most a locum has been paid for a shift since 2015, broken down by year for all clinical professions?

Response

A

Annual cost data for agency staff across clinical professions for the period from 2015 to 2023 have been provided in previous Freedom of Information responses published to www.gov.je​:

2015 to 2017 (published March 2020):

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=3584​

2018 to 2022 (published December 2023):

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=7027​

2023 spend (published July 2024):

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=7586​

Medical and nursing agency staff cost data for 2024 are provided in the Minister for Health and Social Services’ response to a Written Question in the States Assembly:

WQ-81-2025_1.pdf​

As this information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

2024 agency staff expenditure for Allied Health Professional (AHP) groups was £2,866,063.

2025 expenditure for the period from January to May (inclusive), is detailed in the table below, broken down by staff group:

B

Information on Locum medical staff bookings up to the end of 2024, including annual data and detail of the limitations of records held, has been provided in a Freedom of Information published to www.gov.je in June 2025:

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=8603​

Data for 2016 were provided in a Freedom of Information response published to www.gov.je​ in January 2018:

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=1912​

Annual data for unique Locum medical staff bookings, from 2018 to 2022 are available in the Freedom of Information response of December 2023, linked above, as are figures for agency nursing and AHP bookings for 2022 and 2023 (to November 2023).

Data for medical and nursing agency staff numbers engaged in 2023 and 2024 are provided in the Minister for Health and Social Services’ response to a Written Question in the States Assembly, as linked above.

As this information is available elsewhere, Article 23 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

As noted in the December 2023 Freedom of Information response, prior to 2022, data on nursing and AHP agency staff numbers used are not available centrally at this level. Snapshot data of staff numbers was produced historically for Freedom of Information responses, as linked below:

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=4703​

gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=3265​

22 unique agency AHP staff were engaged through December 2023. Some of these staff may have been in place prior to the start of this time period.

76 unique agency AHP staff were engaged through 2024. Some of these staff may have been in place prior to the start of this time period.

Data for Locum / agency staff booked in 2025 for the period from January to May (inclusive), are detailed in the table below, broken down by staff group.

Workforce and finance data for the whole Department are also published in the Health and Care Jersey Advisory Board papers on www.gov.je​ and are available from June 2023:

Health and Care Jersey Services Board​

C and D

As noted in the December 2023 Freedom of Information response referenced and linked above, the contract of Locum services is commercially sensitive and as such, Health and Care Jersey (HCJ) considers that disclosure of the cost information requested would likely prejudice the commercial interests of the department, or others. Therefore, Article 33 of the Freedom of Information (Jersey) Law 2011 has been applied.

Articles applied

Article 23 - Information accessible to applicant by other means

(1) Information is absolutely exempt information if it is reasonably available to the applicant, otherwise than under this Law, whether or not free of charge.

(2) A scheduled public authority that refuses an application for information on this ground must make reasonable efforts to inform the applicant where the applicant may obtain the information.

Article 33 - Commercial interests

Information is qualified exempt information if –

(a) it constitutes a trade secret; or

(b) its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of a person (including the scheduled public authority holding the information).

Public Interest Test

Article 33 is a qualified exemption and as such, HCJ has conducted a prejudice test as required by law. 

When responding to requests of this nature, HCJ has to balance the public interest with the impact that disclosing this information would, or would be likely to, have upon the organisation and / or third parties. Whilst it may be in the public interest to understand the costs of contracting external resources, protecting the commercial interests of HCJ is an essential component in controlling public finances, which in itself is in the public interest.

​Locum services need to be contracted and negotiated frequently to meet clinical demand and cover periods of leave or absence of substantive medical staff, as required. Disclosing information relating to contractual service arrangements is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of HCJ and others. Additionally, the service contract for Locum provision is currently out for tender, and as such, disclosing Locum rates could prejudice the tender process and have a detrimental effect on contract negotiations.

When considering the application of this exemption, HCJ has determined that whilst it is in the public interest to disclose information, this is outweighed by the necessity to limit any impact on its commercial interests in contracting future Locum clinician services and as such, Article 33 has been applied.​​​