A NATIONAL shortage of doctors and sickness absences have been cited by NHS Borders to explain a surge in the number of locums working in the region.

Data gathered and published by the BBC shows that the local health authority spent more than £5.6million on temporary medics between 2009 and 2013.

And the bill topped £2.5million last year – up by nearly £2million on four years ago.

In one instance, a single stand-in doctor was paid £5,573 for a 48-hour shift.

The figures were highlighed last week by Borders Conservative MSP John Lamont.

“Clearly locums have their place in providing flexibility in times of demand, but they are not a cost effective way of staffing hospitals,” said Mr Lamont.

“It is concerning the bill for locums has gone up nearly £2m in four years. This is not only a waste of money, but it means that staff will be increasingly unfamiliar with the hospital they are working in.

“It would be better for patients and better for costs to ensure that staffing is sufficient so as to reduce the need for so many locums. I’m sure that NHS Borders will want to look closely at how it can reduce its agency bills.” Responding, a spokesperson for NHS Borders told The Border Telegraph: “Patient safety remains our first priority and locum doctors are engaged to ensure safe and accessible provision of a full range of local health services for the population we serve.

“Our locum expenditure has, in the main, been to cover gaps in frontline specialities including the primary care out of hours service, acute and emergency medicine, anaesthetics and intensive care.

“For some specialities there have been significant workforce challenges due to maternity leave, sickness absence and a national shortage of doctors.

“In response, NHS Borders has been increasing the number of medical posts and has recently made substantial progress in recruiting new doctors to fill these vacancies.

“As a result of this successful recruitment drive, we anticipate a decrease in the amount spent on locum doctors over the next few years.”