More than £1.4 million a month is being spent on agency staff to plug gaps at hospitals across Lincolnshire.
Nurses, doctors and other medical staff not directly employed by the county’s health trusts filled more than 8,700 shifts last year.
Information obtained by the Lincolnshire Echo under the Freedom of Information Act shows the average hourly rate paid out to agency consultants was £104.69 and the average hourly rate paid to agency junior doctors was £56.72 over the past 12 months.