Things are looking grim at Reed Health Group, which has just announced its third profit warning in a row.

Tough new rules aimed to reduce the NHS’s dependency on private-agency nurses and the impact of NHS Professionals, the health service’s in-house scheme, have reduced demand for agency nurses.

The new regime also burdened agencies with bureaucracy that did not apply to the health service’s own staff, Reed’s chief executive David Fennell complained.

Shares in the company hit a record low of 54p after the announcement that full-year profits will fall short of even the most pessimistic analyst forecasts.