13 May 2023 , 19:04
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A healthcare firm scooped NHS contracts worth up to £53million in less than two years when it was controlled by Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft.
Medacs Healthcare was handed 10 NHS deals as the sole supplier during the period, according to contract notices published from September 2021 to December last year.
At the time the agreements were signed, Medacs was owned by Impellam Group – ultimately controlled by ex-Conservative Party deputy chair Lord Ashcroft.
A Labour source said: “A Tory donor’s firm has been cashing in on the NHS staffing crisis that his party created. It stinks.” Medacs – also awarded a £350m Government contract during Covid – is a leading healthcare staffing company.
Our analysis of public records show the firm won three contracts, together worth £10.5m, to supply staff to County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust.
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A Labour source said the contracts revelation 'stinks' (Mirrorpix)It was awarded a contract in November 2021 – worth up to £36m over three years – with the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
A trust spokesman explained that the contract, to provide locum doctors, was awarded “through a competitive tender process”.
Other contracts included three deals with Norfolk and Norwich Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, two with University Hospitals of Leicester, and one with Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.
Accounts for Medacs Healthcare plc to the end of 2021 state Ashcroft was the ultimate controlling party of Impellam Group Plc, with “influence over more than 50%, but less than 75%, of both shares and voting rights”.
However, Impellam Group this year sold part of its business, including Medcas, to a private equity firm. Impellam said none of its non-executive directors, including Lord Ashcroft, were involved in the deals or day-to-day running of Impellam.
A Government spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual companies. NHS-related bodies including NHS Trusts are contracting authorities in their own right and must follow relevant rules.”