Brighton NHS puts its trust in ISS mediclean

ISS Mediclean has scooped a five-year contract to provide catering, housekeeping and portering at Brighton Health Care NHS Trust, worth £3.5m a year in turnover.

The contract, previously held in-house, covers Brighton's Royal Sussex County Hospital, Sussex Eye Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital for Sick Children and Hove General Hospital. It starts in January.

But staff and visitor feeding at the Royal Sussex will not be taken over by ISS. That contract, which turns over £500,000 a year, was awarded to Bateman Catering during the summer.

At present, patient meals at the Royal Sussex are produced centrally and delivered hot to the wards. But ISS will oversee a switch to a new system next April, whereby multi-portioned, chilled meals are bought in and re-heated in kitchens on the wards. The conversion work, which will cost the trust about £1.7m,is due to begin within two weeks.

Ken Dean, environmental and commercial services manager for the trust, said ISS had won the contract because it showed "the best understanding of our requirements". There were six other bidders, including the in-house team and Bateman. The switch to cook-chill had been decided on as a means of improving quality, said Mr Dean.