NHS Professionals was not sold off by David Cameron

A tweet shared more than 1,000 times has claimed that the staff bank NHS Professionals was privatised by David Cameron.

This is false. NHS Professionals is still wholly owned by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).

The tweet, which has also been shared on Facebook, said: “NHS Professionals was owned by the NHS until David Cameron sold it off.”

In fact the NHS Professionals website says it is owned by the DHSC, while its most recent company accounts up to 31 March 2022 show that the DHSC is its sole shareholder.

False or misleading claims about how public services are run could harm the democratic process. Online claims can spread fast and far, and are difficult to contain and correct.

The history of NHS Professionals

NHS Professionals was formed by the government in 2001 to provide temporary staff to the NHS, and then established in 2004 as a special health authority, meaning it was independent but could be “subject to ministerial direction”.

Then in April 2010 NHS Professionals became a company instead, wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health. 

It is true that in November 2016, after Theresa May had replaced David Cameron as Prime Minister, the government decided to sell a majority share of NHS Professionals—but in 2017 it announced it had decided to keep it under public ownership, after concluding none of the offers “reflected the company’s growing potential and improved performance”.

Images courtesy of Abdulai Sayni.