Despite fears over public spending cuts, the healthcare sector remains attractive to investors, according to business sales consultancy LBA.

John Bissell, whose company advised on December’s sale of £50m turnover medical recruiter DRC Group to private equity firm Hamilton Bradshaw, told Recruiter he was working on “two or three significant deals involving recruiters in the health and social care sector”.

“This is more than at any time in the last three or four years,” he said. “If I’m anything to go by there will be others going on.”
Bissell said the deals involved recruiters who supply staff to frontline public services rather than non-frontline staff such as administrators, where there was a higher risk of cuts.

“Politicians see the NHS as a priority. There will always be a need for doctors and nurses,” said Bissell.