Recruiters have hit back at claims by unions that recruitment agencies have been guilty of “ripping off” hospitals by charging “outrageous fees”.

Following an announcement by the department of health that it would explore options for private sector investment in the state-owned NHS Professionals, Unison Karen Jennings, UNISON Head of Health claims it makes no sense at all to bring back private companies who will want a “slice of the action” in return.

She adds the very reason managed flexible services provider NHS Professionals was set up 10 years ago was to prevent recruitment agencies from “ripping off” hospitals by charging them “outrageous” fees for recruiting or finding staff for shifts.

But a spokesperson for medical recruitment specialist Healthcare Locums (HCL) told Recruiter that the union’s promotion of NHSP as a cost-effective part of the Health service is as “misguided” as the claim that independent staffing agencies are “ripping off hospitals”.

“Since its inception the NHSP has succeeded in losing almost £100m of taxpayer money to a deficit black hole. This amount far outweighs the annual retained profit of the UK’s biggest independent healthcare staffing agencies.

“As far as “ripping off hospitals” is concerned, independent research conducted by Laing & Buisson has found that the average NHSP doctors costs £2,41 per hour more than the equivalent doctor supplied by leading private agencies – approximately £4,500 more expensive per annum.

“As for Unison’s concern about the impact of private sector investment on patient safety, they should note that Laing & Buisson has found that NHSP can only fill 35% of requests for bank medical staff – wholly inadequate to the NHS’s needs. The remainder of requests are filled by independent agencies. The number of Trusts willing to use NHSP is falling, and many only do so reluctantly because they are contractually obliged.”
 

Sailm Shaul, chief executive at dr-locums, adds: “One of the reasons the strategic direction of NHS Professionals was changed was the business model was not reliable which is why it has become a more commercial facing organisation. Its track history isn’t the most spectacular.

“Agencies have to now charge VAT on supply of workers. There is little left for agencies to provide manage its operations effectively and deliver a decent quality of care but agencies manage do that.

“The hurdles for placements have been placed increasingly higher. Agencies have had to meet these costs internally.”