NHS PASA (Purchasing & Supply Agency) has issued an apology to healthcare recruiter Pulse after publishing its request to increase commission rates by 5% on three framework agreements on its website.

According to details published on PASA’s website in November, Pulse applied to increase commission rates to cover compliance costs associated with testing candidates for TB, Hepatitis B and C and HIV.

PASA posted the request to increase commission rates with London Agency Projects: multi-regional framework agreements for agency Nurses and AHP/HSS framework agreement.

But the website article continued that because compliance requests came into effect last year, Pulse “should have factored this in with their running costs”, and confirmed that it had declined Pulse’s request.

The article also recommended that “NHS trusts check invoices, presented by Pulse, are in accordance with the framework agreement prices published on the NHS PASA websites”.

When Recruiter originally asked PASA why it had turned down Pulse’s request, a spokesperson said it was not appropriate to comment further because the details were “provided Commercial in Confidence”.

However, Richard MacMillan, chief executive of Pulse, told Recruiter: “We are surprised and concerned that discussions regarding the commercial terms of our contract have been made public and also by the implication that we would make any change without permission; we will discuss this matter with PASA directly.”

He added: “No trust should have any issues about us not adhering to our framework rates.”

Later, in a statement sent to Recruiter, PASA apologised to Pulse for “publishing in error discussions about changes to commission rates” on its website and for “any embarrassment or inconvenience caused”.

PASA said the item was removed from its website “as soon as the error was discovered” and that it was reviewing its procedures “to ensure that similar errors can not occur again”.