NHS PASA’s (Purchasing & Supply Agency) public apology for publishing information about health recruiter’s Pulse’s request to increase its commission rates on three framework agreements was right and proper, according to the health recruiter’s chief executive. 

The apology, exclusively revealed in Recruiter on 10 December, admitted that “discussions about changes to commission rates” had been published “in error” on NHS PASA’s website in November. 

PASA had also recommended on its website that all NHS Trusts check that invoices presented by Pulse “are in accordance with the framework agreement prices published on the NHS PASA websites.” After receiving the apology, Richard MacMillan, chief executive of Pulse, told Recruiter that the company’s stance had been vindicated. “As an ethical supplier to the NHS it is important and entirely appropriate that PASA acknowledged their error and issued an apology,” says MacMillan.