Video: Protesters at the QMC today
A group who protested today (Thursday November 24) at the handling of a cleaning company’s services in Nottingham hospitals have said they want services to be moved in-house.
Carillion has been contracted since April 2014 to provide cleaning services to both QMC and City Hospital in a deal worth £200million-a-year.
However hospital managers earlier this year said they had ‘serious concerns’ with how their provider was performing.
This prompted members of the campaign group Nottinghamshire Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) to protest against Carillion’s contract continuing as members of the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUH) Board that run QMC and City Hospital met today.
We want this back in house
Speaking before the meeting, chair of KONP Richard Buckwell said: “It has gone wrong from the word go.
“By Summer 2015, there were already reports of bad performance so we protested then.
“We want this back in house but we don’t feel that we have been heard because we have raised concerns before.
“We have heard nothing and patients like myself need to know.”
Video: Ross Longhurst protests at the QMC
KONP member Ross Longhurst thought that the current contract is concerning as both a group member and a patient who uses services.
He said: “Experience shows that this is not a success.
“I think that it should be brought back in house and I will be very pleased if the contract is cancelled.
“I do not want to see the hospital go to another private provider.
“Speaking simply as an elderly person too, I am concerned about what’s happening; I feel like the NHS is being run down and a lot of people are suffering because of it.”
Not all people took to the protest, with one resident who lived nearby complaining about the volume of the demonstration.
One resident said: “I live next door and the rubbish and waste is disgraceful but the noise from this protest is unacceptable.”
The cleaning contract was not discussed as an agenda item in today’s Trust Board meeting but chief executive Peter Homa did say in his summary: “There will be a public direction of travel in the near future.”
NUH issued a statement after the meeting which said: “After implementing several rigorous interventions, serious concerns remain about the cleanliness and Carillion’s performance in other services.
“The NUH Board is giving very active consideration to the future of the Carillion contract and the Trust will update patients, partners and staff on next steps in the very near future.”
