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Patients awaiting hospital discharge or requiring support at home risk delays in receiving vital equipment, as a key supplier to the NHS and local authorities is on the verge of insolvency.
NRS Healthcare supplies mobility aids, hoists and other vital equipment to patients across England and Northern Ireland.
Officials close to the discussions confirmed that councils were only given a few weeks’ notice of the company’s financial position, which would not typically be sufficient time to move to alternative suppliers.
They added that local authorities were prioritising the most urgent and critical need cases and, due to the shorter timescales, it was likely there would be some disruption to services.
NRS Healthcare, which is owned by private equity group Graphite Capital, made a pre-tax loss of almost £15mn for the year ending in March 2024, according to its most recent financial statements.
The company’s single-largest contract is held with the London Community Equipment Consortium, to provide equipment for frail people to be able to live independently at home.
As well as serving as a major supplier to the NHS, NRS Healthcare has operating contracts with about 40 local councils in England and Northern Ireland.
These services are commissioned by local authorities, but the UK government said it was “monitoring the situation closely”.
Whitehall officials said local authorities had a legal duty to intervene and ensure people living in their areas continued to receive disability aids and community equipment.
The Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Adult Social Services said they were working closely with councils to support them in “navigating these complex challenges”.
In a joint statement, they said: “Councils are working hard to ensure that residents can continue to access essential equipment, and are exploring all options to maintain services, including alternative providers and local solutions.
“We recognise how critical community equipment and technology-enabled care is for people leaving hospital or maintaining their independence at home, and we are committed to ensuring that services remain as reliable as possible, especially to those people with the highest levels of need, during this period of uncertainty.”
Officials also confirmed the government was working with the Insolvency Service to “mitigate any impacts”.
In March last year, NRS was the target of a cyber attack, which forced it to condense a six-month digital transformation project into three weeks and restore or replace more than 1,000 laptops.
The costs of that recovery were not included in its most recent financial statements, which were signed off by auditors KPMG on a ‘‘going concern” basis.
NRS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an earlier statement to the BBC on Wednesday, the company said it had been working hard over the past few months “to turn around the business and explore all possible options to safeguard services and protect the communities who rely on them”.
“We have already begun transferring all services to other providers and are implementing plans with the local authorities to preserve service provision and jobs,” it said.
The government said: “We are closely monitoring this situation and are working with a range of partners who are supporting local authorities to minimise any potential disruption, find alternative suppliers if needed and ensure patients continue to receive high-quality care.”
