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65 health workers are being housed in visitor accommodation, with another 309 put up in States-owned and States-rented accommodation.
Those 375 workers are a combination of permanent and agency – or freelance – staff working for Health & Social Care.
The Committee spent £3.3m on housing staff in 2022.
It was recently reported that around £800,000 within this total was spent on agency staff, bringing the total bill for freelancers to £12.6m for 2022.
Health services in the Channel Islands and UK have become increasingly reliant on agencies to supply staff as patient demand outstrips the supply of doctors and nurses. Around 9% of all HSC employees are agency workers.
Covid disruption, backlogs, bed blocking, and Brexit have worsened the situation by creating staffing gaps.
As a result, companies supplying freelance staff, such as Independent Clinical Services and ID Medical, have seen turnover increase by tens-of-millions since 2019.
HSC maintains that agency staff are essential to ensure an acceptable and safe level of service for patients.
Pictured: Education are also grappling with recruitment and retention issues.
Schools have also been experiencing staff shortages. There are currently 50 agency education staff housed in States-subsidised accommodation.
25 of these are in self-catering visitor accommodation, with the remainder in States properties managed by the key worker team.
The States spent a total of £237,000 on accommodation for staff last year.
A spokesperson for Education, Sport & Culture said that “some of the agency staff are covering maternity leaves and long-term sickness absences.
“They are also covering for the backfill created by non-teaching SENCOs and Deputy Head Teachers in primary schools as well as in some areas where recruitment has been challenging.”
Health & Social Care confirmed last month that analysis into whether paying permanent staff higher wages could result in improved local recruitment and retention, in lieu of agency staff, has not be commissioned.
All health workers have now accepted the States’ three-year pay deal up to 2025, but teachers are yet to accept the offer.
The States have also extended rent allowances for off-island States employees who are entitled to financial help from two to four years. It was claimed that the public shouldn’t incur an additional cost for this as turnover would be reduced.
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