Royal Hospital, Haslar (Hansard, 18 July 1997)

§ Dr. Reid

This is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Secondary Care Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from Ron Smith to Mr. Peter Viggers, dated 18 July 1997: Royal Hospital Haslar: Laundry Arrangements I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the laundry arrangements at the Royal Hospital Haslar as this matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Defence Secondary Care Agency. I apologise for the delay in responding. As you will recall from my letter of 20 March 1997 we have been conducting a very thorough appraisal to identify and evaluate the options for providing both laundry and sterile supplies services into the next millennium. The options considered included contractorisation, PFI, and rebuilding one or both facilities and continuing to run them as integral parts of the Hospital. The conclusion reached was that, in the case of the laundry, switching to a commercial laundry service would allow quality levels to he maintained whilst saving an estimated £60,000 a year in running costs alone, with further substantial economies accruing from avoiding the need to invest in capital infrastructure and equipment. The position on the sterile supplies department, the expansion fo which is critical to the wider development of the Hospital itself, is rather different. The capacity of the local NHS market to absorb extra contract work from Haslar is extremely limited and, given the need for a responsive service that can deal with fluctuating demand from the operating theatres, the balance of advantage lies in providing a new in-house sterile supplies department, although we are not yet finally committed to that course of action. Some 60 civilian staff work in the two departments and, in accordance with Ministry of Defence policy, their views have been sought through the Trades Unions. Whilst the proposal to rebuild the sterile supplies department has been welcomed, considerable concern has been expressed about the contractorisation of the laundry service and a counter proposal has been made to retain the current in-house facility. I have considered the arguments very carefully, and have met with representatives of the Transport and General Workers Union (T&GWU) to discuss their concerns. The union response centres on two main areas: quality and cost. On the subject of quality, the unions have suggested that a commercial laundry service could not provide the standard of service that the Hospital requires. However, this does not accord with experience in the National Health Service where a significant proportion of hospital laundry is now done by private companies and no compelling reasons have been put forward to explain why such an arrangement would not work at Haslar. On the financial front, I have to say that accepting the union line would prevent me from delivering substantial savings that are on offer and, thereby, providing the taxpayer with the best possible value for money. At present the T&GWU and I have agreed to differ on these points and, since the unions have registered formally their disagreement with Agency plans, the issues must now be the subject of further discussion between management and unions through the Department's Whitley machinery. Until this has been done and the disagreement resolved one way or the other, MOD policy obliges me to put into abeyance all action to implement the proposals. I realise how much of a disappointment our plans might be for laundry staff who have served the Royal Hospital loyally over the years. I do hope, however, that they will understand that my Agency 357W must recognise and respond to economic pressures if we are to maintain the high standard of clinical service to which we are committed whilst meeting our fiscal duty to the taxpayer. I hope this is helpful.