NHS Professionals is an organisation in the United Kingdom that supplies temporary staff to the National Health Service. It manages temporary staff banks on behalf of more than 55 NHS Trusts across England.
History
NHS Professionals, conceived as an NHS-owned solution to the growing issue of temporary workforce requirements, was first introduced in 2001 by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. By 2003 the NHS Professionals service was being provided via four main host trusts and there was significant variation between them in terms both of activity and performance. To combat this, NHS Professionals was established as a Special Health Authority on 1 April 2004, a nationally branded managed service for temporary staff in the NHS. NHS Professionals underwent further reorganisation to improve its service and in 2010 it was dissolved as a Special Health Authority and became NHS Professionals Ltd, a company wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health in April 2010. The head office is in Watford, Hertfordshire, supported by a small finance team located in Tingley, West Yorkshire as well as a client relationship team based both remotely and on-site at client trusts around the country. It announced its first ever surplus/profits in August 2010, and it continues to generate a surplus. In April 2011, Stephen Dangerfield was announced as the chief executive of NHS Professionals. He has been with NHS Professionals since 2007, originally as Director of Operations and then as Chief Operating Officer. Robin Williams is chairman of NHS Professionals. In October 2014 Sky News said ministers were examining the future of NHS Professionals, saying the agency's sale, at an estimated price of between £50 million and £100 million, was “a very real possibility”. In April 2016, Nick Kirkbride replaced Stephen Dangerfield as chief executive officer of NHS Professionals. In September 2017 plans to sell the agency were abandoned and it would remain in “wholly public ownership”. Colin McCready replaced Nick Kirkbride as acting CEO at the end of 2017.
Organisation
Primarily NHS Professionals serves the needs of the NHS by offering NHS trusts temporary staffing solutions as a managed service. It also serves the temporary working needs of healthcare professionals who work in the NHS. As a managed bank service, NHS Professionals takes over the day-to-day management of the Trust bank to help control demand for additional hours, minimise agency expenditure and improve compliance of temporary staff. NHS Professionals supplied agency may work flexible hours, across various trusts. It claims to be the NHS's largest temporary staff bank workforce with over 130,000 on its books. NHS Professionals employs a wide variety of healthcare staff including: nurses, midwives, allied health professional, care support workers, doctors, administrative and clerical, healthcare scientists and support workers. Administrative and clerical workers need to have relevant skills and experience to join the workforce. All doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants are required to have at least six months' experience within the last two years in the UK and at an NHS hospital.
