US firm Flexestaff has hit back at criticism of its online nurse auction scheme, which encourages bank nurses to bid for shifts for the lowest wage, claiming it is unlikely that UK hospitals will adopt the controversial system.

Some NHS trusts are currently considering using the online product, which Flexestaff claims has already been successfully used in the US.

Flexestaff faced allegations from a nursing trade union that the scheme was disrespectful to nurses. But the company claimed NHS trusts were not likely to use the reverse auction system.

Instead, Flexestaff expects the NHS to use a variant of the system, where trusts advertise shifts at a fixed rate.

However Mark Atkinson, of Hornagold and Hills, Flexestaff’s UK partner, did not rule out the possibility of the eBay-style reverse nurse auctions coming to Britain.

The system could be transferred to other industries and could benefit recruitment agencies that adopted it, he claimed.

He added: “There might be opportunities for the approach for a number of other industries to use the system, such as airlines, prisons and police.”

But the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) criticised the idea behind the system. A spokeswoman said: “This is gimmicky and disrespectful to the professionalism of nursing. It encourages cheap labour and the RCN would be strongly opposed.

“This system has the potential to exploit vulnerable nurses, particularly overseas nurses, who could feel pressurised into underselling their skills.”

The system, called eShift, was pioneered in St Peter's hospital in Albany, New York, and claims to help healthcare providers reduce agency spend and overheads.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “We don’t have a national position on the Flexestaff scheme. It’s down to the NHS on a local level to explore ways to best meet their staffing needs.”