Thanks to observant local readers of Lowdown in Protect Our NHS Bath and North East Somerset for drawing our attention to plans by the Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire Hospitals Group to outsource management of its bank staff to a private company, Pulse.
Pulse, as is so often the case with outsourcing contractors, is owned by Acacium, which in turn is owned by (in this case, Canadian) private equity interests seeking profit, whatever the consequences.
The decision to outsource has been taken behind closed doors (Board level) and against the written objections of UNISON and all the hospital Staff Side unions.
The issue has been raised with Bath council’s Health Scrutiny Panel by the UNISON Bath Health Branch secretary Baz Harding-Clark, and by a former RUH Bath Hospital governor Nicola James.
They not only alerted the Scrutiny Panel to the plan, but also presented evidence-based concerns about the way that the procurement process has been managed by the Hospitals Group.
Full article in The Lowdown, 12 May 2026
