The NHS is calling for ‘expressions of interest’ on three-year contracts worth a total of £1.2 billion to supply temporary staff from March 2006.

Categories of staff included are: administrative, clerical, professional, scientific, technical and therapeutic staff, including pharmacists and allied health professionals, a designation which applies to art therapists, drama therapists, music therapists, chiropodists/podiatrists, dietitians, occupational therapists, orthoptists, orthotists, prosthetists, physiotherapists, diagnostic radiographers, therapeutic radiographers, and speech and language therapists.

This latest tender process marks the first time that these categories of staff have been brought together in a single framework agreement, says Marcus Brindle, agency and services director at the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA).

“Previously, there was no national agreement for temporary scientific and technical staff,” Brindle told Recruiter. “The existing agreements for allied health professionals, admin and clerical staff were to be re-tendered, so it makes sense to bring them all together.”

The new framework agreements will be available for use in the UK by NHS or health-related public bodies, local authorities and a wide range of public bodies.

Seeking expressions of interest is the first stage in the tendering process.

Although a single framework agreement is involved, Brindle says it is likely many agencies will be appointed to the agreement: “The number of agencies appointed will depend on the quality of the responses. Successful agencies will not be required to supply all categories of staff or to cover the whole country.”

The largest spend within the NHS temporary staffing budget is on agency nurses, followed by medical locums, with both represented in separate agreements.

Current NHS spend on the types of temporary staff represented

in the new single framework agreement is £400 million a year.

PASA expects to make the awards in February 2006. The agreement will start the following month.