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Government drops plans to sell off NHS staffing agency

Plans to sell off a major NHS staffing agency have been abandoned by the government.
NHS_professionals

Plans to sell off a major NHS staffing agency have been abandoned by the government.

NHS_professionals

Health minister Philip Dunne said that NHS Professionals (NHSP) will remain in public ownership as offers to buy a bulk share in the agency were considered to have undervalued it.

The government announced in 2016 that it intended to sell a majority stake in NHSP, which supplies flexible staffing to the NHS, despite the concerns of opposition parties and within the medical profession.

In a written statement to the Commons, Mr Dunne said: ‘After careful consideration, the government has concluded that none of the offers received for the company through the open, rigorous bidding process reflected the company’s growing potential and improved performance.’

NHS Professionals holds a bank of more than 90,000 nurses midwives, doctors and other healthcare professionals who fill more than two million shifts, saving the NHS £70 million a year.

Mr Dunne said: ‘Since the decision was taken to seek offers for the company, NHSP has increased its performance such that audited profit before tax for the year ended March 31 2017 was 44% higher than in the previous year.

‘This improvement in financial performance continues to be built on in the first quarter of the current year.

‘The company's improved financial and operational performance means it can now invest in improved IT infrastructure, expand its services to the NHS and transform into a world-class provider of flexible staff while remaining under public ownership, [thereby] generating further savings for the NHS that will continue to be reinvested in frontline services.’


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