MONEY spent on locums by some Merseyside hospitals has rocketed by millions of pounds in one year.
Freedom of Information requests put in by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) have uncovered the figures.
At Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital, the spend has jumped by more than six times in a year, from £92,169 in 2008-9 to £553,325 in 2009-10.
At the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen Hospitals the figures rose from £3,641,000 to £4,536,000 and at St Helens and Whiston, from £3,442,765 to £4,463,611.
Warrington and Halton saw an increase of £372,133.
However most other Trusts in the region failed to respond fully to the request, so their spend remains under wraps.
The RCS blames costs on the introduction of EU regulations to reduce doctors’ hours, called the European Working Time Directive (EWTD).
