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Medical agency expenditure

Agency locum doctors and dentists are used by NHS Boards to support the workforce by providing additional temporary capacity. The annual expenditure on locums includes those who are hired through private agencies.

Data source

Data are sourced from NHS Scotland’s Finance Platform. They are extracted, quality assured and provided to NES by NHS National Services Scotland for the year ending 31 March 2025

Locums who are directly employed by NHS Boards, such as those working on Locum Appointment in Service or Locum Appointment in Training grades, are not included in these data but are included in the employment data.

Methods

Medical agency cost and expenditure data are sourced from NHS Scotland’s Finance Platform and supplied by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). These data are circulated to Directors of Finance within each NHS Board who agree and sign-off the figures for the financial year. NSS then supply these data to NES, which complete another round of quality assurance before loading into the data warehouse.

What data are published?

Medical and dental locum spend is available for each year ending 31 March from 2013 and is updated annually. Data reported are expenditure on agency locums by NHS Board.

Data quality

NES carry out a second phase of quality assurance involving:

  • checking for any errors (for example, missing values) in the return, and
  • comparing figures with previous years.

When required, NES clarify any large changes in data with data providers.

These data are part of the two-week early release quality assurance process where the report is made available to NHS Boards to confirm as accurate. Communication with NHS Boards over this period allows us to confirm or update any of these data ahead of release to the public.

The data provided are aggregated and it is not possible to identify spend by other variables such as Specialty.

Further information

Audit Scotland report on reducing expenditure on medical locums released in 2010: https://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/health/2010/nr_100617_medical_locums.pdf

Quality assurance and limitations

Quality assurance

A number of steps are in place to ensure that these data are reported accurately.

  1. Data are extracted from the NHSScotland Finance Platform by NHS National Services Scotland (NSS). These data are circulated to directors of finance within each NHS Board who agree and sign-off the figures for the financial year.

  2. Once these data has been agreed, NSS supply these data to NES by Excel who carry out a second phase of quality assurance. This involves: (i) checking for any errors in the return, and (ii) comparing figures with previous years. When required, NES clarify any large changes in data with data providers.

  3. Once data received are confirmed as accurate, these data are then combined with previous years data. Reporting software, PowerBI, is then refreshed so as to include the updated data. The report is then checked to ensure the values are shown accurately and any additional data intelligence are noted.

  4. These data are part of the two-week early release quality assurance process where the report is made available to NHS Boards to confirm as accurate. Communication with NHS Boards over this period allows us to confirm or update any of these data ahead of release to the public.

Limitations

The data provided are at a high level and it is not possible to identify spend by other variables such as Specialty.