An in-house staffing agency offering nurses NHS benefits with flexible hours has saved Oxfordshire hospitals £450,000 in two years.

NHS Professionals, formerly known as Staff Direct, has been so successful that the number of workers on its books has more than trebled since it was started two years ago.

Initially, 1,800 nurses and administration workers registered, but this has increased to 5,700.

Managers are now expanding the service, making it the first NHS agency to take on other types of health care worker for temporary work.

NHS Professionals was set up by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust in April 2000 in a bid to cut the costs of employing expensive private agency nurses at hospitals across Oxfordshire. It offers its workers flexible hours, like private agencies, but with NHS benefits such as pensions and holiday pay.

While outside agencies charge a commission for providing the trust with nurses, NHS Professionals is a not-for-profit scheme and a minimal charge is made to cover necessary administration costs. Any surplus funds are ploughed back into patient care.

Sue Meredith, director of NHS Professionals in Oxford, said: "We have been able to save around £450,000 and reinvest that in patient care.

"We're trying to decrease dependence on outside agencies and give the NHS control over spending -- and more importantly, standards of care.

"The benefits for local trusts are more robust selection, monitoring of hours worked and lower management fees."

Now managers are getting ready to invite other health care workers to register with NHS Professionals, including occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech and language therapists.

Although these groups are not in such short supply as nurses, the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals reported that a fifth of physiotherapists left the trust in 2000-2001, and more than a third of occupational therapists left in the same financial year.