LOCUM doctors are earning up to £1,200 a day working bank holiday shifts in Oxfordshire, the Oxford Mail can reveal.

The medics are being paid £100 an hour to cover at surgeries across the county when other doctors are off duty.

Last night the NHS trust which organises locum doctors said it ‘did not have any involvement’ in private agency pay agreements.

A spokesman for campaign group the Taxpayers’ Alliance said the rate was too high.

Merco – NHS Oxford Health’s “preferred provider”– is currently advertising for locums in the county.

The online advert says: “Locum GPs, in Oxfordshire – Earn up to £1,200 per day.

“Bank Holiday shifts now available!”

It adds that the salary is “up to £100 per hour.”

Last night Merco sales director Anita van Heerden confirmed the £100 was correct.

She said: “Our locum doctors are paid that rate on bank holidays, which applies to Oxfordshire and the other counties we operate in.

“It is standard practice.

“The higher rate of pay takes in the fact that these shifts are available on bank holidays.”

NHS Oxford Health is commissioned to provide the service by NHS Oxfordshire.

Locums are brought in to complement local GPs because demand rises on bank holidays.

NHS Oxford Health last night washed its hands of involvement with pay negotiations.

Spokeswoman Alison Neary said: “Merco is a preferred provider of locum GPs for Oxfordshire.

“Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust usually pays Locum GPs approximately £80 per hour in accordance with usual NHS rates of pay.

“On occasion, for short term requirements which help to maintain our high quality patient care, we engage locum GPs from external agencies. In such cases, as with any agency arrangement we are charged directly by the agency.

“In these circumstances the actual rate paid is an agreement made between the individual doctor and the agency concerned.

“Oxford Health NHS FT does not have any involvement in these discussions or arrangements.”

Emma Boon, campaigns director for the Taxpayer’s Alliance, said: “Doctors work hard and deserve to be well remunerated for what they do, but it looks like agency staff are cashing in on certain NHS trusts being disorganised.

“With proper management of staff time and shifts, there should almost never be a need to resort to using very expensive locums on Bank Holidays.

“With huge pressures on healthcare costs, expenditure on agency staff must be kept under control.”