The Department of Health has responded to concerns that recruiters have been left in the dark (recruiter.co.uk, 13 May) following the news that NHS PASA (Purchasing & Supply Agency) is to close within the next 12 months.

A DoH spokesperson told Recruiter: “There is no change to existing recruitment framework policy - NHS PASA is continuing with business as usual.”

Martin Miller, director of Simply Health Recruitment in Belfast, told Recruiter: “How can they decide to close PASA and then say nothing is changing? Obviously they decided to close PASA because something was wrong so to say ‘business as usual’ just doesn’t make sense.”