Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Campaign group to protest against QMC hospital cleaning contractors with 12-foot rat
Campaign group 'Keep Our NHS Public' is taking a 12-foot inflatable rat to a protest ahead of a meeting today, between Nottinghamshire's QMC and City hospitals Trust and the cleaning contractor, Carillion. The meeting is being held to discuss the future of the deal between the two and KONP says it will be protesting against the continuation of the deal - using a giant 12-foot inflatable rat to 'make the point as clearly as possible'.
The report by Notts TV, says that some managers who have raised concerns about the cleanliness levels at Nottingham's two main hospitals will be in attendance at the meeting.
KONP spokesman Mike Scott told the station's reporters: "The trust board have a rat in their kitchen and need to decide what they're going to do.
"Carillion has had innumerable last chances and has shown all too clearly that it's focused on profits rather than patients.
"It's had problems with other hospital contracts and those have been repeated here - hospital staff and managers are at their wits end and patients are routinely putting up with dirty wards.
"It's time to give them their marching orders. The only way to guarantee services in the long-term is to take the contracts back in-house; NHS staff, Carillion staff, Trade Unions, managers and patients all want this to happen."
Following a board meeting back in October, NUH chief executive Peter Homa said: "After implementing several rigorous interventions, serious concerns remain about the cleanliness of our hospitals.
"Enhanced audits completed during October will provide the Trust with an independent assessment of cleanliness standards across our hospitals.
"We will again raise our serious concerns at the highest levels in Carillion.
"We will evaluate this independent report over the coming week, whilst bringing together all available evidence so that the NUH Trust Board can make a decision on the future provision of cleaning services and the wider Carillion contract by the end of November."
Carillion said at the time: "We have recruited additional cleaning staff, carried out training programmes and adapted working practices to meet the concerns of the trust.
"We continue to work with the trust to ensure clarity about where responsibility for certain cleaning duties lies between the trust's team and our own cleaning staff who work hard to do a good job for patients and nursing staff.
"Based on the report to the trust's board it is clear that further work is jointly needed to ensure the best experience for patients and their families."
24th November 2016