Nearly two million temporary shifts were advertised across the NHS in Scotland last year amid record spending on private companies that supply doctors, dentists, nurses and midwives.
The number of agency roles advertised has risen from 100,000 to 500,000 since the pandemic, analysis suggested.
Dr Sandesh Gulhane, the health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives and a GP, said that the reliance on external staff was “deeply alarming and a shameful reflection on the SNP’s record in charge of Scotland’s NHS”.
He added: “NHS resources are already at breaking point so the last thing health boards need to be doing is shelling out money on this scale to external staff to ensure shifts are fully covered.”
The NHS spent about £290 million in the year to