THE WESTERN Trust shelled out over £3 million in the past five years on temporary social workers to plug holes in its local healthcare services.
It is almost one fifth of the entire amount spent by all the five health trusts put together.
The figures shows that across the North of Ireland’s the five health trusts splashed out over £14m on temporary social workers.
More than £4.6m has been spent on hiring agency social workers in the last 12 months alone – the highest in the last five years.
The worrying figures were revealed by the Department of Health following a number of Assembly questions from MLAs.
Millions have been spent across the North of Ireland’s health and social care trusts over the last five years to fill gaps in staffing levels.
Figures show that the the Western Trust has splashed out £3,080,000 over the past five years on social work agency workers while the Belfast Trust, the biggest of the five trusts, spent £3,727,862 over the same period.
Tthe Southern Trust spent £430,107, the Northern Trust spent a total of £3,289,000 and the South Eastern Trust forked out £3,522,000 to bring in temporary staff.
Assembly member Daniel McCrossan MLA said the numbers were “concerning”.
The West Tyrone SDLP MLA added: “I’ve met with local social workers who have told me they are over-worked and stressed while the department is not employing more full-time staff to permanently alleviate these pressures.
“It’s concerning that £4.6m is being spent on the hiring of temporary social workers across each health trust area.
“It is therefore concerning that the limited resources in the health budget is being spent on agencies rather than on front line social work services.
“Social workers are involved in very complex cases, especially those involving the custody of young children, and this is no easy task.
“Agency staff can have an impact on these cases and on families, as children are being passed from pillar to post to a different number of social workers, agency workers, all of which impacts on decision makIng on the best interests of children.”
An Assembly question tabled by DUP Foyle MLA Gary Middleton revealed that it takes the Southern Health Trust over three months to fill a post.
But at the Western Trust it takes 91 days to appoint a social worker.
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