End Poverty Pay in the NHS – Bring the cleaners and support staff back ‘in house’

At present, soft services are run by ISS at QEH and Interserve at Lewisham Hospital. We believe, particularly in light of the recent collapse of outsourcer Carillion, that to continue to rely on private companies to run these essential services presents an unacceptable risk. We also question whether the current contracts represent good value for money.

The hard-working individuals currently employed by ISS and Interserve also deserve better. Under these two companies, the workforce has seen its pay held down and its terms and conditions cut to the bone to maintain company profit margins. The demoralisation of the workforce, combined with a sustained under-investment in equipment, has made it harder to deliver a first-rate service.

We full appreciate that eight years of chronic under-funding and the burden of a substantial PFI debt mean that the Trust is in a precarious financial position. However, we believe that there is robust evidence to suggest that bringing soft facilities back in-house could result in an overall financial saving and improved service delivery.

There are recent examples of Trusts successfully bringing services back in-house. For example, Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) brought cleaning services back under their control last year. The move has resulted in a marked improvement in service standards.

Lewisham and Greenwich Trust are now in discussions with Meridian Hospital Company (The PFI company responsible for QEH) to end the soft facilities part of the PFI contract at QEH. Were this to transpire there would be nothing preventing the Trust from determining not to put the contract out to tender and bringing it back in-house instead. We urge the Board to do so, for the benefit of the workforce and the long-term sustainability of these essential services.”