Bodmin to Bristol laundry move “A cynical sleight of hand” – Rogerson
North Cornwall’s MP, Dan Rogerson, today (Monday) slammed moves by the local NHS to relocate laundry services for Cornwall’s hospitals to Bristol. The MP had already told Cornwall’s health chiefs that a plan they mooted in November to axe 60 jobs at their Bodmin site, and send local laundry many miles out of Cornwall was an ‘absurd affront to common sense.’
Cornwall Partnership Trust now says it is transferring the work to a private contractor, but admits that the new company in charge has no intention of keeping laundry jobs in Cornwall. Although they will offer to take on existing staff in the short term, the future of their jobs is uncertain.
The local Liberal Democrat MP has written to the Chief Executive of the Trust in support of local workers.
Commenting, Mr Rogerson said:
“The Trust has shied away from axing these important local jobs itself but, in a cynical sleight of hand, has transferred the posts to a contractor who has no intention at all of maintaining the workers’ positions.
“This decision owes far more to satisfying accountants in Whitehall than it does to providing the sort of NHS local people want.
“The NHS will save money by making this change but it will do nothing either for the community or for the environment: hardworking people are to be put out of a job, and local laundry is set to go trundling around the country in big lorries when it could be dealt with here in Cornwall.
“If the local NHS is going to transfer work to the private sector it should seek guarantees that local jobs will be maintained.”
