It has been stated that a salary of more than £1million a year was paid to a surgeon by North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust as it spent £20,000 on hiring a surgeon for one week and £14,000 on four days' cover for a gynecologist.

It was added that a doctor was given about £5,667 for doing a 24-hour-shift by Mid-Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and this means it was a salary of £1.36million a year if the doctor was paid for a year.

Since the EU working time directives in 2009 came out, a shortage of people working has been seen and the directives stated that in a week a person could only work for 48 hours.

Tory MP Charlotte Leslie, whose father is a surgeon, stated that the taxpayer has to pay too much due to the directive as there has been a double rise in locum doctor wages.

Leslie said, "These are shocking figures. It's not just the taxpayers who are suffering; patients will too. Both the Netherlands and Spain get around the directive by calling junior doctors `autonomous workers' who are exempt."