3 January 2013
Local NHS Trusts have signed a ground-breaking new
contract to improve estates and facilities management services
across the city and counties. It is the first time that the Trusts
have joined together to manage facilities and estates services
across all local NHS services, including health centres, hospitals
and community services.
Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, University Hospitals of
Leicester NHS Trust and the Leicester City, Leicestershire County
and Rutland Primary Care Trust Cluster have signed a seven-year
agreement with Interserve, the international support services and
construction group.
The contract, which is worth around £300 million, will provide
investment to improve the buildings and facilities used to deliver
NHS services to thousands of patients every day, as well as
significant savings for the NHS.
Interserve will be responsible for delivering comprehensive
facilities management services to the Trusts, including the
delivery of catering, cleaning, maintenance and security across
more than 550 NHS buildings and properties, totaling 490,000m2 and
nearly 3,100 beds. The contract also includes a new
partnership with Interserve to make the best use of the NHS
buildings and estate and, using Interserve’s supply-chain provider
Capita Symonds, will support the NHS in delivering major
modernisation projects.
The signing of this contract follows a two-year procurement
process which has seen the NHS organisations come together to
develop and then secure the multi-million pound agreement, having
selected Interserve as their preferred provider in September.
Sue Bishop, Director of Finance for the Leicester City,
Leicestershire County and Rutland PCT Cluster, who chairs the
Programme Board which has led these developments, says: “We have
been working together to develop our estates and core facilities
management services to give us the best possible quality and value
for money, right across the NHS. A key difference with this
agreement is that we have brought together the needs of patients
and staff right across the NHS, giving greater scope for
consistency, quality and efficiency of the services, as well as
providing value for money.
“We will also be working closely with Interserve on transforming
and updating our facilities, so that for the first time,
developments in clinical services will be matched with developments
in the facilities which help to deliver them.”
Adrian Ringrose, chief executive for Interserve said: “This
joined up approach of combining facilities and estates services is
the first of its kind in the UK, supporting the efforts of the NHS
to shape services around the patient experience. As an experienced
provider in delivering services in a clinical environment, this is
a great opportunity for Interserve to work with the Trusts to
redefine their services and their hospitals.”
Notes to editors:
The contract signing was completed at the end of
December. The contract will start in 2013.
Under the terms of the contract, the staff currently working for
the NHS and other private sector providers on behalf of the NHS in
the individual Estates and Facilities Management services will
transfer to Interserve. Consultation with staff is currently
continuing and will be completed in January. It is proposed that
around 2,000 staff will transfer to Interserve at the start of the
contract.
The contract is in two parts – the first is the delivery of the
estates and facilities management services including catering,
portering, security and maintenance to the local NHS
Trusts. The second is the development of and investment in NHS
buildings and facilities to modernise and transform the NHS estate
to meet the needs of clinical services. The contract has a
maximum value of £700 million over seven years.