HOSPITAL bosses have shelled out about £8million a year on temporary staff since 2009.

Figures released following a Freedom of Information request have revealed Southend Hospital chiefs splashed the cash to ensure they had enough doctors and nurses to treat patients.

Since April 2009, they have spent about £700,000 a month on locum staff, as well as security workers, drivers and porters.

Bosses said they were already trying to ensure temporary staff were only hired in an emergency, but campaigners claimed more should be done.

Emma Boon, campaign director for the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: “Southend Hospital, like other parts of the NHS, will always have a need for some temp or agency staff, but relying on this type of cover is an expensive habit.

“Given that money is so tight, the hospital needs to do more to find permanent staff to fill positions where it will represent a saving of taxpayers’ money over the long term.”

According to the information released by the hospital, it spent £8.3million on agency staff for regular roles during 2009/10.

That figure was on track to total about £7million in the 2011/12 financial year, which ended last month.

In comparison, the total wage bill for the hospital’s permanent staff – including pension payouts – was about £143million in 2010/11. The most expensive roles to fill with temporary workers were in nursing, which cost about £115,000 a month.

Rupert Wainwright, interim director of operations at the hospital, said the reduction in expenditure on agency workers showed the hospital was moving in the right direction.

He added: “We are conscious that we need to reduce as far as possible the amount we spend on agency staff and to this end have recently increased the number of permanent staff on a number of wards.

“We believe our new business unit structure, together with our electronic rostering system, will allow us to regulate agency expenditure far more closely so we employ agency staff only in an emergency.”