Why Employee Wellbeing Should Start with Data Visibility, Not Perks
NI health trusts triple spending on temporary nurses
“Too often, HR is brought in to manage a staffing crisis rather than prevent one,” said Callum Pennington, of workforce management platform HBHR.
Leaders of health trusts in Northern Ireland have tripled their spending on private nursing staff over six years due to a high dependency on agency nurses, a report published on Wednesday (27 May) has highlighted.
The health trusts spent more than £162m on private staff in 2024 to 2025, and some of the hourly rates paid to nurses in Northern Ireland exceeded those paid in London.
The report, which was published by the Northern Ireland Audit Office, concluded that the heavy reliance on temporary nurses was caused by staff absences, unfilled vacancies, shortfalls in funded staffing positions, high population demand and inadequate workforce planning.
Callum Pennington, CEO and co-founder of workforce management platform HBHR, told HR magazine:
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When agency spending on nursing staff triples in six years, that is not a procurement problem. It is a workforce planning failure.
Northern Ireland’s experience is a stark illustration of what happens when organisations are forced into reactive, short-term staffing decisions year after year.”
Dorinnia Carville, the comptroller and auditor general at Northern Ireland Audit Office, told the BBC that if agency staff had been paid the same as those hired directly by trusts, Northern Ireland could have saved £186m over the past four years.
Carville said: “While the use of temporary staff to fill short-term workforce gaps is inevitable to some degree, this must be planned and managed effectively to ensure the long-term sustainability of services.”
Reliance on temporary staffing is rarely a choice, Pennington stated, noting: “It is a symptom of deeper structural challenges around absence management, retention, vacancy forecasting and long-term workforce strategy.
“HR teams have a critical role to play, but only if they are properly equipped. That means integrated HR and workforce management systems that provide real-time visibility across absence, scheduling, attrition and payroll data, alongside genuine strategic involvement with operational leadership.
“Too often, HR is brought in to manage a staffing crisis rather than prevent one.”
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Sustainable workforce planning requires employers to invest in the right tools and data capability, and to give HR a genuine seat at the strategic table, not just a reactive firefighting role.
Without that commitment, organisations will continue paying a significant premium to fill gaps that better planning could have avoided.
The Northern Ireland Audit Office collated and analysed key data and information from the Department of Health and the Health and Social Care Trusts.
