Opportunities are opening up for IT contractors as work on the National Health Service’s National IT Programme gets under way.

But NHS IT staff hoping to make the jump to the private sector could be disappointed as the National Programme has forbidden poaching by the service providers — which include such prestigious firms as Accenture, CSC and BT Syntegra.

Analyst Tola Sergeant of Ovum Holway, estimated the service providers will need about 1,000 extra staff.

“Some of that will come from contractors, some from permanent recruitment and some will be other system integrators,” she says. “I would guess maybe 600 of them would be freelance, but it’s pretty tricky to know who will be doing what as they’ve all been sworn to sworn to secrecy by the National Programme.”

She says the move will undoubtedly push up contractor rates: “I think it will help but I don’t see a upturn in the contractor market as a result, I see a firming,” says Sargeant. “ All the recruitment agencies I speak to do seem a bit more positive,”

The National Programme is known to be keen to prevent suppliers tempting existing NHS IT staff with high salaries.