Northern Ireland health trusts spent more than £160 million on agency nursing staff in 2024-25.

The figure has tripled since 2018-19. Total spending on temporary nursing staff reached £258 million for more than eight million hours of cover.

Auditor General Dorinnia Carville reported that the health service needs an additional 2,195 nurses to maintain safe staffing levels. The report found that agency rates are up to 64 per cent higher than in England.

Agency nurses cost an average of £11 per hour more than bank nurses employed directly by trusts. The report estimated that paying agency staff at bank rates could have saved £186 million over four years.

The Department of Health stated that a planning group has been set up to reduce agency spending. It said agency use in social work has been eliminated and progress has been made to stabilise the workforce.

Rita Devlin of the Royal College of Nursing said the spending was unsustainable and represented a missed opportunity to employ more than 2,600 full-time nurses.

John Patrick Clayton of Unison said the figures showed the need for stronger incentives to use bank staff instead of agencies. Diane Dodds of the DUP said the report exposed long-term failures in workforce planning and called for a timetable on promised safer staffing legislation.