An NHS Hospital in Barrow-in-Furness has set up its own staffing agency in a bid to avoid paying private temporary staffing agencies and save money, reports North-West Evening Mail. The staffing agency already has more than 20 nurses registered to provide cover when the hospital is short on staff.  The hospital said that it aims to save hundreds of thousands of pounds with its own international nurse recruitment programme.

It is unclear why the hospital felt it necessary to set up its own staffing agency when it already has access to NHS Professionals, a company wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health and established to provide hospitals with an alternative to private temporary staffing agencies.