UK officials are eyeing the sale of a majority shareholding of NHS Professionals Limited, a state-owned healthcare staffing provider to the National Health Service. Minister of State for Health Philip Dunne outlined the plan in a written statement last week. The new partner would run and control the company, and also carry the majority of the financing and operating risks of the business.

A tendering process is being launched through an advertisement in the Official Journal of the European Union.

NHS Professionals was set up in 2010 as a limited company fully owned by the Secretary of State for Health. It is the largest single supplier of flexible staffing to the National Health Service, with a bank of more than 90,000 workers providing more than 2 million shifts every year. NHS Professionals currently works with 55 trusts, which is only about one-quarter of NHS trusts, and is the largest provider of bank staff to the NHS.

The government concluded that the company requires significant investment to enable it to expand, so it can deliver improved services to more NHS trusts and reduce their reliance on expensive agency staff — the bill for which is currently £3 billion annually, according to Dunne.

“It currently saves the NHS approximately £70 million a year by supplying bank staff to hospitals which are more affordable than those staff supplied by expensive agencies,” Dunne said. “We want to see the company take advantage of this opportunity to expand its business, acting as a true alternative to expensive agencies. But the company cannot do this without substantial investment to improve the services it offers.”

The government’s retention of a minority shareholding will ensure there are no significant changes to the agreed purpose and/or objectives of the company. It will also retain the right to take back ownership of NHS Professionals in the event of any serious breach of the agreed main objectives.

The move will not immediately impact NHS Professionals’ approximately 600 corporate staff and the company’s bank workers will also continue to book and work shifts for NHS trusts as usual, Dunne said.