Concern is again being raised about the amount of money being spent by hospitals in the north west on agency staff.
That’s at the same time as a crisis in recruitment and retention as well as curtailment on staff costs.
Figures released to Sinn Fein show that in the first five months of this year, almost €3m was spent for agency staff in Letterkenny University Hospital and €2.3m in Sligo University Hospital.
Donegal TD Pearse Doherty is Sinn Fein’s spokesperson on Finance.
He says the cost of hiring an agency consultant for three months is the same as filling one such post for a year.
