From: Susie Colley, Director, Save Torbay Hospital Ltd
To: Freedom of Information Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS FT (copied to the FOI team and others)
Reference: Internal review of TSD10613, question 5(e)

I request an internal review of the response to TSD10613, question 5(e). The request asked for copies or relevant extracts of any review, audit, risk assessment or Board-level discussion.

The response described the Trust's governance arrangements and referred to the fortnightly Workforce Programme Group, but provided no recorded information. Please either disclose the relevant documents or confirm which exemption is being relied upon for withholding them.

In the event my request could incur a refusal to supply the requested information on cost grounds, please provide the information requested at sections C and D below.

C. Workforce Programme Group. For 2026/27 to date: the Group's terms of reference and membership by job title; the agendas, minutes or action notes of its meetings; the dashboards, reports and papers presented to it on vacancies, recruitment, agency usage and agency spend; and any Cost Improvement Programme document or workforce plan recording the approximately 30% agency reduction target, together with the recorded progress against that target.

D. Agency nursing expenditure. The period covered by the £487,000 figure, including the exact cut-off date; a monthly breakdown from April 2026 to that cut-off, with separate figures for registered nursing, midwifery and health visiting; whether the £225,140 April figure and the £487,000 figure cover the same staff groups and come from the same source, and if not the April figure on the same basis; and whether the figures are on an accruals or cash basis, and whether any month includes adjustments relating to 2025/26. The campaign asked for the data as a spreadsheet (CSV or Excel).

From: Susie Colley, Director, Save Torbay Hospital Ltd
To: Freedom of Information Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS FT (copied to others)
Reference: New request following the response to TSD10613 (a Trust reference is awaited)

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide the following. This request follows your response to TSD10613.

A. Current voluntary redundancy process. The response to TSD10613 confirmed that a voluntary redundancy process is currently being progressed. This asks for recorded information held at the date of the request, not final outcomes:

• the date the process was launched, and which staff groups, directorates or services were eligible;
• the number of expressions of interest or applications received, by staff group and Agenda for Change band;
• the number approved, declined and still pending, by staff group and band, including how many are in clinical or patient-facing roles;
• the business case, Board or committee paper, or other document approving the scheme, including any projected costs and savings;
• any quality impact assessment or equality impact assessment completed for the scheme;
• whether posts released through the scheme will be removed from the establishment.

B. New administrative and management posts (1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026).

• the number of new administrative, clerical and management posts created (not replacement posts), by Agenda for Change band or VSM;
• how many of these posts have been filled, and their total annual pay cost (whole-time equivalent);
• the number and total cost of interim, agency or consultancy appointments to management roles.

C. Workforce Programme Group. For 2026/27 to date: the Group's terms of reference and membership by job title; the agendas, minutes or action notes of its meetings; the dashboards, reports and papers presented to it on vacancies, recruitment, agency usage and agency spend; and any Cost Improvement Programme document or workforce plan recording the approximately 30% agency reduction target, together with the recorded progress against it.

D. Agency nursing expenditure. The period covered by the £487,000 figure, including the exact cut-off date; a monthly breakdown from April 2026 to that cut-off, with separate figures for registered nursing, midwifery and health visiting; whether the £225,140 April figure and the £487,000 figure cover the same staff groups and the same source, and if not the April figure on the same basis; and whether the figures are on an accruals or cash basis, with any month that includes adjustments relating to 2025/26 noted. The campaign asked for the data as a spreadsheet (CSV or Excel).

The campaign asked that, if any part would exceed the cost limit, the Trust say which part and provide the remainder, and under Section 16 advise how the request could be narrowed.

From: Susie Colley, Director, Save Torbay Hospital Ltd
To: Data Protection and Freedom of Information Lead, Torbay and South Devon NHS FT (copied to the FOI team and others)
Reference: Internal review of TSD10613 (received 26 August 2026), which also corrected figures previously provided under TSD10532

Dear Data Protection and Freedom of Information Lead,

I am writing to request an internal review of the Trust's response to my Freedom of Information request reference TSD10613, received on 26.08.2026, which also corrected figures previously provided under TSD10532.

Thank you for issuing the correction to the weekend agency figures. However, several parts of my request have not been answered in full, and some points need clarification so that the information can be reported accurately.

GROUNDS FOR INTERNAL REVIEW

1. Workforce planning and voluntary redundancy (Question 1). My question asked whether posts were reduced through voluntary redundancy, voluntary severance, recruitment freezes or non-replacement of vacancies. The response addresses only a "completed voluntary redundancy programme". It does not address recruitment freezes or the non-replacement of vacancies. Please answer these parts of the question.

The response also confirms that a voluntary redundancy process is currently being progressed. The fact that a process has not concluded does not mean that information about it is not held. Any recorded information the Trust already holds, such as papers, business cases, assessments, or the number and type of posts in scope, falls within my request. Please either provide this information or, if the Trust wishes to withhold it, issue a refusal notice under section 17 of the Act stating the exemption relied upon.

Please also confirm whether the current voluntary redundancy process includes any nursing, clinical support, or patient-facing posts.

2. Use of enhanced rates for existing staff (Question 2). Please confirm explicitly which of options (i), (ii) or (iii) applies. If no documents exist, please confirm whether any formal assessment was carried out before the Trust incurred agency expenditure rather than offering enhanced rates or other incentives to existing staff.

Please confirm whether the Temporary Staffing Policy at the link provided, which is dated September 2022, is the current version. If it is not, please provide the current version.

The response states that the Consultant and SAS Additional Clinical Work Policy (MD2) is being disclosed, but no copy was included. Please provide it.

3. Reports and Board discussion (Question 5). Part (e) asked for copies or relevant extracts of any reports. None were provided. The response confirms that agency usage and spend are reviewed by the fortnightly Workforce Programme Group. The papers and minutes of that group that consider agency usage are recorded information within the scope of my request. Please provide copies or relevant extracts for the 2026/27 financial year to date, or issue a refusal notice stating any exemption relied upon.

Please also confirm whether agency nursing usage or expenditure has been discussed at Trust Board level during the same period, and provide the relevant extracts or references to the published Board papers.

CLARIFICATIONS REQUESTED

4. Total agency nursing figures for April 2026. The correction states that the original figures (648, 7,037 hours and £225,140) included all April 2026 shifts, both weekday and weekend. Please confirm explicitly that: (a) £225,140 was the Trust's total agency nursing expenditure for April 2026, covering all days of the month; (b) 7,037 hours was the total number of agency nursing hours worked in April 2026; and (c) whether the figure of 648 refers to individual agency workers or to the number of shifts worked.

5. Corrected weekend figures. (a) Please confirm whether the corrected figures "including the Bank Holiday weekend" include Good Friday (3 April 2026) and Easter Monday (6 April 2026). If so, please provide the figures for Saturdays and Sundays only. (b) Please confirm whether all 64 workers were registered nurses, or whether the figure includes healthcare assistants or other staff groups. If it includes other groups, please provide a breakdown.

6. Frequency of agency usage (Question 3). Please confirm whether the figure of 242 shifts relates to weekend shifts only or to all shifts in April 2026.

7. Year-to-date expenditure (Question 4c). Please confirm the date up to which the figure of £487,000 is calculated. If held, please provide the figure for registered nursing staff alone, separate from midwifery and health visiting.

8. Agency reduction target (Question 4b). Please provide the baseline figure the 30% reduction target is measured against, the period that baseline covers, and the timescale for achieving the reduction.

I would be grateful to receive the outcome of this review within 20 working days, in line with the Information Commissioner's guidance. If any part of this request is unclear, please contact me so that I can clarify it, in line with the Trust's duty to advise and assist under section 16 of the Act.

Yours faithfully,

Susie Colley
Director, Save Torbay Hospital Ltd

From: Freedom of Information Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust (tsdft.foirequests@nhs.net)
Reference: TSD10613

⇩  Download the Trust's full response (PDF)

Dear Sir/Madam, Request for Information. We are writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information you requested. A copy of the information is below.

The Trust has confirmed that during April 2026 alone:

• 648 agency nurses worked weekend shifts.
• 7,037 agency nursing hours were worked at weekends.
• Total expenditure on weekend agency nursing cover was £225,140.
• Agency charge rates ranged from £31.29 to £38.51 per hour.

Correction (further to TSD10532, published 19 May 2026, and TSD10613): the Trust's third-party agency staffing provider identified an error in the initial response and asked the Trust to issue the following correction.

• Question 4 (nurses and hours, weekend shifts): initial response 648 nurses / 7,037 hours; corrected to 64 workers / 2,414.50 hours.
• Question 5 (weekend expenditure): initial response £225,140; corrected to £83,610.80 for April, including the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Trust apologised, stating the error was the result of human error, as all April 2026 shifts, including both weekday and weekend shifts, were included in the original figures.

Workforce Planning and Voluntary Redundancy (Question 1). Having considered the wording of this part of the request, the Trust confirmed that it does not hold recorded information relating to a completed voluntary redundancy programme of the type described. It has not previously undertaken a completed voluntary redundancy programme involving the reduction of nursing, clinical support or patient-facing posts during the period relevant to the agency nursing information provided. A voluntary redundancy process is currently being progressed; as that process has not yet concluded, there is no final recorded outcome, assessment or completed cost-benefit analysis available to disclose at this time. The Trust stated this should not be interpreted as a refusal to answer future requests about the current programme once final information is held and recorded.

Use of Enhanced Rates for Existing Staff (Question 2). For Agenda for Change staff, overtime and unsocial hours provisions are set out in the NHS Terms and Conditions of Service Handbook (the Agenda for Change Handbook), a national document published by NHS Employers and publicly available. The Trust's Temporary Staffing Policy is available on the Trust's website (temporary-staffing-policy-h32.pdf, last updated 9 September 2022). As this information is reasonably accessible by other means, the Trust is not required to provide a copy under Section 21 of the Act. For medical staff, the Trust identified and is disclosing the Consultant and SAS Additional Clinical Work Policy (MD2). No further recorded policy, business case or documented rationale within the scope of the question was identified.

Frequency of Agency Usage (Question 3). On the figure of 242: number of shifts, 242; number of occasions agency staff were booked, 242 (all requested shifts were filled); number of requests for agency cover, 242; some other measure, not applicable.

Agency Staffing Controls (Question 4).

• (a) Executive approvals: nursing agency requests need to be approved by the Associate Director of Nursing and Professional Practice (ADNPP).
• (b) Agency reduction targets or workforce substitution plans: a 30% reduction target built into budgets.
• (c) Total agency nursing expenditure for the financial year to date, not limited to weekends: £487,000 for registered nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff.

Financial and Patient Safety Considerations (Question 5). The Trust stated that it undertakes ongoing review and monitoring of agency utilisation through its established workforce, financial and clinical governance arrangements. Agency expenditure is reviewed as part of its Cost Improvement Programme and wider workforce planning processes, with a targeted reduction of approximately 30% incorporated into the workforce plan. Workforce sustainability is addressed through substantive recruitment, retention activity, workforce redesign and controls over agency use. Vacancy data, recruitment activity, agency usage and agency spend are reviewed collectively. Agency use is subject to clinical governance and risk management oversight. Agency usage and associated workforce metrics are reviewed through the fortnightly Workforce Programme Group. The Trust stated that, to the extent recorded information is held in the form of governance reporting, workforce planning information and financial monitoring information, this constitutes its response to this part of the request. No copies or extracts of reports were provided.

Signed: Freedom of Information Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust.

From: FOI (Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust) tsdft.foirequests@nhs.net
To: Susie Colley (chair@tqcc.co.uk)
Reference: TSD10613 (correction and continuation of TSD10532)
Signed by: Jake Gibbons, Information Governance Officer

Dear Ms Colley,

Re. TSD10613

We are writing in relation to your Freedom of Information request, reference TSD10613. The Trust is continuing to consider the information falling within the scope of your request. In particular, we need additional time to enable full consideration of whether any of the information may be exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This exemption relates to information where disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person, including the Trust or a third party. Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption, which means that, where it may apply, the Trust must also carry out a public interest test before reaching a final decision, considering both the public interest in disclosure and any public interest in maintaining the exemption. We are therefore extending the time required to respond in order to complete this assessment properly, and will provide a full response as soon as possible, within the next 20 working days.

Further to your Freedom of Information request reference TSD10532, published on 19 May 2026, and your additional request reference TSD10613, our third-party agency staffing provider has identified an error in the initial response and has asked us to issue the following correction:

4. The total number of agency nurses engaged for weekend shifts, and the total number of hours worked.

• Initial response: Based on April 2026, 648 nurses worked weekend shifts, totalling 7,037 hours.
• Corrected response: 64 workers were engaged for weekend shifts, totalling 2,414.50 hours.

5. The total expenditure on agency nursing staff for weekend cover.

• Initial response: Based on April 2026, £225,140.
• Corrected response: £83,610.80 for April, including the Bank Holiday weekend.

We apologise for the error in our initial response. This was the result of human error, as all April 2026 shifts, including both weekday and weekend shifts, were included in the original figures.

Yours sincerely,

Jake Gibbons
Information Governance Officer
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

From: Susie Colley (chair@tqcc.co.uk)
To: FOI Team, Torbay and South Devon NHS FT
Reference: TSD10532

Dear Ms Goss,

Thank you for your response to FOI request TSD10532. Having reviewed the information provided, I would be grateful if you could clarify several matters arising from the response, as some aspects appear incomplete and raise further questions regarding workforce planning and expenditure.

Workforce Planning and Voluntary Redundancy. The Trust has previously undertaken voluntary redundancy programmes as part of workforce and financial management measures. Please explain whether any nursing, clinical support, or patient-facing posts were reduced through voluntary redundancy, voluntary severance, recruitment freezes, or non-replacement of vacancies during the period in which agency nurses were subsequently engaged; what assessment was undertaken to determine whether retaining substantive staff would have represented better value; whether any cost-benefit analysis compared voluntary redundancy payments and subsequent agency expenditure; and why agency nurses were required in such significant numbers if substantive staffing had previously been reduced.

Use of Enhanced Rates for Existing Staff. Question 7 was answered "N/A". Please clarify whether no such documents exist, or whether they exist but were not identified within the scope of the search. If no documents exist, please confirm whether any formal assessment was undertaken before deciding to incur agency expenditure rather than offering enhanced rates, overtime incentives, retention payments, bank shifts, or recruitment initiatives.

Frequency of Agency Usage. Please clarify what the figure of 242 represents (number of shifts, occasions agency staff were booked, requests for agency cover, or some other measure).

Agency Staffing Controls. Please provide details of any executive approvals, expenditure controls, or governance arrangements required before agency nursing staff can be engaged; whether the Trust has set agency reduction targets; and the total agency nursing expenditure for the financial year to date, not limited to weekends.

Financial and Patient Safety Considerations. Please confirm whether the Trust has undertaken any review, audit, risk assessment, or Board-level discussion concerning the financial impact of agency dependency, workforce sustainability, the relationship between vacancy levels and agency expenditure, and any risks to continuity of patient care arising from reliance on temporary staffing.

I would be grateful if this correspondence could be treated either as a request for clarification of the original response or as a new Freedom of Information request where appropriate.

My overarching concern is: if the Trust was reducing its workforce through voluntary redundancy, severance, vacancy freezes, or non-replacement of posts, what analysis demonstrated that paying agency nurses for more than 7,000 weekend hours in a single month represented better value for public money than retaining substantive staff?

Thank you for your assistance; clearly in the event of an unsatisfactory response the Heart Campaign will be requesting an internal review.

Kindest regards

Susie Colley
Chair of the Torquay Chamber of Commerce and the Heart Campaign
(Declined) Governor of Torbay Hospital

From: FOI (Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust) tsdft.foirequests@nhs.net
To: Susie Colley (chair@tqcc.co.uk)
Reference: TSD10532
Signed by: Sarah Goss, Data Protection Lead

Dear Susie Colley,

We are writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information you requested. A copy of the information is below.

1. The hourly charge rates paid for agency nursing staff for weekend shifts.
£31.29 / £38.51

2. A breakdown of these hourly charge rates:

• The amount paid directly to the nurse: £26.60 / £32.73
• Agency fees, commissions, or other associated costs: £4.69 / £5.78

3. Confirmation of whether any agency nursing shifts have been filled at or above £90 per hour:

• The number of such shifts: N/A
• The total hours worked at this rate (or above): N/A
• The total cost incurred at this rate (or above): N/A

4. The total number of agency nurses engaged for weekend shifts, and the total number of hours worked.
Based on April 2026: 648 nurses worked weekend shifts. Total number of hours: 7,037
[Corrected 2 July 2026 to: 64 workers engaged for weekend shifts, totalling 2,414.50 hours.]

5. The total expenditure on agency nursing staff for weekend cover.
Based on April 2026: £225,140
[Corrected 2 July 2026 to: £83,610.80 for April, including the Bank Holiday weekend.]

6. The frequency of agency nurse usage for weekend shifts.
Based on April 2026, 242

7. Any recorded policies, business cases, or documented rationale comparing the use of agency staff versus offering enhanced pay or incentives to substantive staff for weekend shifts.
N/A

Yours sincerely,

Sarah Goss
Data Protection Lead
Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust

To: Chris Balch (Trust Chair), Martin Beaman, Joe Teape (Trust CEO)
CC: Wide distribution including regional press, David Simmonds MP, and Torbay Council (David Thomas, Cat Johns)
Date: 30 April 2026, 22:20

Good evening Mr Balch

I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding the use and cost of agency nursing staff. It has been suggested that agency nurses may be used to cover weekend staffing gaps at rates of up to £90 per hour. I request clarification of this point through the provision of recorded information.

Please provide the following for the current financial year to date:

1. The hourly charge rates paid for agency nursing staff for weekend shifts. Where multiple rates apply, please provide the range and typical rates.
2. A breakdown of these hourly charge rates, including the amount paid directly to the nurse and agency fees, commissions, or other associated costs.
3. Confirmation of whether any agency nursing shifts have been filled at or above £90 per hour. If so: the number of such shifts, the total hours worked at this rate or above, and the total cost incurred.
4. The total number of agency nurses engaged for weekend shifts, and the total number of hours worked.
5. The total expenditure on agency nursing staff for weekend cover.
6. The frequency of agency nurse usage for weekend shifts.
7. Any recorded policies, business cases, or documented rationale comparing the use of agency staff versus offering enhanced pay or incentives to substantive staff for weekend shifts.

For the avoidance of doubt, I am requesting recorded information held by the organisation. If any part of this request exceeds the appropriate cost limit, please provide the information up to that limit and advise how the request may be refined.

Kindest regards

Susie Colley
Chair of the Torquay Chamber of Commerce and the Heart Campaign