HEALTH Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has demanded answers as to why a former health board chief executive placed a £75,000 contract with a firm that has yet to file accounts.
Professor James Barbour, who retired as NHS Lothian CEO amid a waiting times scandal, hired HD Partners to advise the board on using private hospitals to meet waiting time targets.
Professor Barbour left his high-profile role last month as pressure mounted into how NHS Lothian had been meeting its waiting time targets.
Now it has emerged that months before he retired, he used his delegated powers to hand over a £75,000 contract to little-known HD Partners.
The consultancy firm was hired to advise on spare capacity in the private sector that could be used by NHS Lothian.
This was in spite of the Scottish Government being hostile to the policy of "buying" operations from the independent sector.
According to company databases, HD Partners was formed in September 2010 and is registered at an address in North Yorkshire. Director and co-owner Tim Flanagan used to be managing director of Serco Health, an outfit specialising in delivering public services.
The company's chief executive is Ian Savage, who was once employed by related firm Serco SDC.
Despite HD Partners not being old enough to file accounts, the company website claims it has offices in London, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Madrid and Warsaw.
When The Herald called the telephone number listed on the firm's website, an individual said it was the company's old number. He did not have a forwarding address.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: "NHS Lothian has previously used the services of the external firm H&D Partners to negotiate independent provision on their behalf. "
A spokesman for NHS Lothian said: "NHS Lothian employed HD Partners for two pieces of work related to waiting times management. This amounted to around £75,000. NHS Lothian has no further contracts with HD partners."
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