On 1 Apr, 01:29, John B wrote:
On Mar 31, 4:32 pm, " wrote:

If they're so worried about agency staff I hope they never have to go
an NHS hospital. A large proportion of the medical staff *are
generally agency staff, particularly the nurses. Funnily enough the
unions there didn't consider it a safety issue though as we all know
the tube unions live in their own little fantasy world where any
working practices not devised during the Bolshevic Revolution are
frowned upon.

Possibly because the agency staff (especially nurses) have recognised
qualifications to ensure they are competent to carry out the role?
Bear in mind that the example you used, agency nurses, costs the
health service an awful lot of money, that could possibly be better
used directly employing more nurses to provide cover, rather than fill
the coffers of the agencies.

Yes; I'm sure the NHS deliberately uses agency nurses to maximise its
spending with agencies and wind up union types, rather than doing so
because it's the most efficient way of matching supply with demand.

Maybe neither. Maybe it's because the permanent staff budget is
capped, or because the agencies make political donations (these are
just a couple more hypotheses).