Princess Royal Hospital to control housekeeping as £15m contract ends

Brighton and Sussex University Hospital Trust, which runs the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath has ended a contract with Sodexo.

The facilities and estates management provider has been working with the Princess Royal since 1996.

Matthew Kershaw, Chief Executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals said: “It has been agreed that the contract we have with Sodexo to provide services including housekeeping, catering, portering and cleaning (known as soft facilities management (FM) services) will end early and that these services will be brought ‘in-house’ and managed by BSUH.

“This also means that all the staff who provide those services (who have substantive contracts of employment with Sodexo) will transfer across to BSUH.”

Mr Kershaw said a transfer of this ‘size and complexity’ is a ‘huge undertaking’, adding that there will ‘inevitably be some challenges’.

He said: “We are going to work very hard to ensure the transition is as smooth and well-managed as possible.

“It is though the right thing to do, at this point in time, for everyone involved and for the organisation as a whole. We need to explore any lessons which can be learned from the outsourcing of this contract to Sodexo and we will also ensure there are plenty of opportunities for our own staff and those who currently work for Sodexo to input their ideas on how we provide these services going forward.”