Health workers striking to stay in the NHS are up in arms after a leaked of the East Suffolk and North Essex Foundation Trust (ESNEFT) chief executive surfaced suggesting the decision to privatise jobs had been made months ago, says UNISON today.
The video – shot in May but only recently leaked to the Health Service Journal (HSJ) – appears to puncture ESNEFT claims that senior managers would not make a final decision on selling support staff (including caterers, cleaners, porters and housekeepers) out of the NHS until a private board meeting next month, says the union.
Facilities services at Colchester Hospital and several community sites, including Aldeburgh and Felixstowe hospitals, are currently run in-house, while private contractor OCS runs the services at the trust’s other major acute site, Ipswich Hospital, and a few other smaller community sites.
The OCS contract ends in April 2025 and ESNEFT says it is exploring the possibility of outsourcing all these soft facilities services as a single contract.
But in a video uncovered by the HSJ, ESNEFT chief executive Nick Hulme can be seen talking to concerned staff outside a trust board meeting.
During the seven-minute exchange, a UNISON official says: “Speaking to the non-executives [directors on the ESNEFT board], the decision is that it is going to be outsourced?”
Mr Hulme responds: “Well the decision has been made, yes.”
Later in the video he adds: “Once we’ve made a decision and we’ve been through a process, it’s very difficult to then reverse that position.”
The trust has subsequently said that Mr Hulme is referring to the decision to market test facilities services, but UNISON believes he is clearly referring to the one made to outsource services in the video.
Staff unhappy with the approach adopted by senior managers have already taken 16 days of strikes to stay in the NHS. There are further walkouts planned on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of next week (5, 7 and 8 November).
UNISON Eastern head of health Caroline Hennessy said: “Despite reassurances to staff and the public that no decision had been made, privatisation efforts were clearly well under way behind closed doors from the off.
“Moving these essential teams out of the NHS is a false economy and goes against government pledges on insourcing.
“Outsourcing will almost certainly mean cuts, fewer resources and declining standards of care. Staff will likely find themselves on worse contracts than their colleagues employed directly by the NHS, making East Suffolk and North Essex a less appealing place to work and receive care.
“In recent months, staff and the public have shown real determination to protect NHS services, jobs and quality patient care. It’s a pity trust managers decided long ago they’d privatise regardless of what anyone else thinks.”
Charlotte Flavell, a housekeeper at Colchester Hospital, said: “It’s disgraceful that the trust had made up its mind before even talking to the staff providing these key services. We’re still waiting for a meeting with the chief executive to discuss this.
“The trust says a final decision will be made at a private meeting on 21 November but it appears everything was already decided in May before the tender process had even begun.”
