NHS invites tenders for £80m recruitment tasks

The National Health Service has put the whole of its recruitment advertising, marketing and search and selection services, worth &£80m annually, up for tender.

The tenders are being overseen by the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and also include media planning and buying, the creative account, direct marketing and the digital business. Contracts will be for three years, with the scope for a 12-month extension. The deadline for submitting tenders is the end of December. The advertising campaign will enable recruitment of staff by NHS trusts and other bodies, but will not cover temporary staff. The &£80m budget also pays for response management, recruitment tracking and analysis.

The NHS faces an ongoing recruitment battle as staff retire and defect to better-paid agency work or to jobs abroad.

The Department of Health had already announced it will review the &£4m NHS Careers ad account, handled by Leo Burnett, which inherited the business when it merged with D’Arcy in 2002. D’Arcy won the brief from Saatchi & Saatchi in 1999.

Starcom MediaVest handles the media planning and buying business.