BSW Hospitals Group was formed a year ago as a partnership between Swindon’s Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust.
By law, the group has to consult Wiltshire Council when setting priorities, planning changes to services, and commissioning community provision because health services in Swindon and Wiltshire are now planned and overseen jointly by the NHS and local authorities.
At a meeting of Wiltshire Council’s Health Select Committee on Tuesday, June 2, members heard the group had decided to move all of its ‘bank’ staff – those who pick up flexible shifts to cover staff absences or increased demand on the NHS – from NHS employment to Pulse, which is part of the multinational private healthcare provider Acacium Group.
Bank staff include roles across nursing, midwifery, and ‘allied’ health professionals, as well as administrative, catering, and ancillary staff.
The deal comes into force on August 1.
BSW Hospitals Group said the move would save the NHS between £3.3 million and £5.4 million through a reduction in the employer pension contributions.
NHS staff receive an employer contribution of 23.7 per cent – but under the Pulse deal this will be reduced to six per cent.
In a written representation, the Salisbury branch secretary of trade union UNISON, Mark Wareham, said the move “transfers a core NHS staffing function to a private, profit-driven provider.”
“There is no indication that the private company bring any more expertise or capacity to run a bank service to the three Trusts other than that which already exists in the in-house teams that currently run the three services,” he said.
He added: “The decision was taken despite formal collective opposition from recognised trade unions.”
He asked councillors to “call NHS Trust executives to account for the workforce and equality implications of this decision,” and “write to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to raise these concerns formally.”
Responding, Jude Gray, chief people officer at BSW Hospitals Group, said the decision to outsource to Pulse had been taken to “reduce reliance on high-cost agency staffing,” and “increase fill rates for temporary shifts.”
She added: “BSW Hospitals Group does not consider this change to represent the privatisation of NHS clinical services.”
Debating the matter, Cllr Sam Blackwell (Liberal Democrat, Bradford on Avon North) said: “This is a very substantial reduction in benefits. Is this to ensure the wards are better staffed, or to achieve a cost saving?”
Cllr Chuck Berry (Conservative, Minety) said the law required the group to bring this decision to its local authority scrutiny panel.
“The worry for me is that if it all goes terribly wrong and there are strikes, the potential is that we’ll get blamed for that,” he said.
Committee chairman Jane Davies (Conservative, Marlborough West) said the matter had been a “contentious and difficult issue.”
The committee decided not to bring the lack of consultation to the Health Secretary.
Instead, it voted to draw up a ‘consultation protocol’ between BSW Hospitals Group and the council.
And it asked that the company return to the committee to give an update on temporary staffing levels in early January 2027, to “provide assurance that the changes have not affected services to residents.”
At the same time, UNISON will be invited to give a report on the impact on staff.