The way NHS organisations are expected to source and manage their workforce is changing. Regulation has tightened, frameworks have evolved, and the strategic expectations placed on procurement leads and care setting managers are more demanding than they have been for some time.
Understanding what those changes mean in practice matters. The risks of working with agencies that are not properly positioned within the new framework environment are real, and the consequences fall on your organisation.
The regulatory backdrop
NHS England has continued to tighten its approach to agency staffing over the past year. Spending controls, system-level expenditure limits, and requirements to procure staff through approved frameworks are all more rigorously enforced. Trusts are expected to demonstrate appropriate governance around temporary staffing, and scrutiny at board level has increased.
The broad direction of travel is also clear. In June 2025, NHS England’s CEO and Health Minister Ashley Dalton wrote jointly to all trusts and integrated care boards urging them to work towards eliminating traditional agency spending altogether, with a warning that legislative action could follow if savings targets were not met.
This does not mean qualified agency nursing is disappearing. Demand for skilled clinical staff remains high and is not going to reduce in the near term. What it does mean is that how workforce supply is structured, governed, and procured is being fundamentally rethought.
RM6380: a significant shift in how workforce solutions are structured
The most significant development for NHS procurement teams to understand is the introduction of RM6380, the Health Workforce Solutions Framework, delivered through the NHS Workforce Alliance.
RM6380 represents a meaningful departure from previous staffing frameworks. Rather than focusing solely on transactional agency supply, it introduces a broader, solution-led model designed to support long-term NHS workforce transformation. It consolidates several earlier frameworks, including RM6278 (Managed Staff Banks) and RM6163 (Workforce Improvement Services), into a single integrated route to market.
Under RM6380, NHS organisations can access a much wider range of workforce solutions through a single compliant framework, including outsourced staff banks, direct engagement models, permanent recruitment, recruit-train-deploy programmes, and workforce planning and advisory support.
The intent is clear. NHS organisations are being asked to move away from short-term reactive staffing and towards blended, sustainable workforce models that combine supply, governance, and longer-term planning.
What this means for procurement teams
For procurement leads, RM6380 changes the question you should be asking of your staffing partners. It is no longer just whether an agency can fill your shifts compliantly. It is whether they are structured and positioned to support you within the new framework environment.
Working with agencies outside approved frameworks creates financial, governance, and reputational risk. Spending that cannot be evidenced against approved procurement routes is harder to defend during audit and may fall outside your system’s agreed expenditure limits. And as NHS England’s scrutiny of agency procurement increases, the importance of working with partners who operate within the right governance structures will only grow.
What a properly positioned staffing partner looks like
In the current environment, a compliant and forward-looking staffing partner should be able to demonstrate the following.
Approved framework membership. They should hold a place on RM6380 or another NHS England-approved framework, with the documentation and audit readiness to evidence it.
Full candidate compliance. Verification against NHS employment check standards as standard, including DBS checks, professional registration, right to work, occupational health clearance, and up-to-date mandatory training records.
A solution-led approach. The ability to support not just immediate staffing needs but longer-term workforce planning, including direct engagement models and more sustainable alternatives to purely reactive cover.
Clinical governance. A clinical lead function and clear processes for managing candidate quality and conduct, not just placement volumes.
Genuine specialism. An agency built around nursing and allied health professionals, with deep knowledge of the clinical environments and staff groups you need.
How Bluestones Medical can help
Bluestones Medical is a specialist healthcare staffing agency focused on nurses and healthcare professionals. We supply NHS trusts and private clients across the UK, specialising in general nursing, community nursing, theatre staff, and mental health.
We are part of the RM6380 framework, positioning us to support NHS organisations not just with compliant agency supply but with the broader, more integrated workforce solutions the new framework is designed to enable. Compliance is built into every placement, and our clinical lead provides ongoing oversight of quality and conduct.
As NHS workforce strategy continues to evolve, our role is straightforward: to be a reliable, compliant, and genuinely useful partner to the organisations we work with, now and as requirements change.
To speak with a member of our team, please call 01244 555 020 or visit bluestonesmedical.co.uk.
