Medirest extends deal with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust – © Compass Group
Medirest, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland’s healthcare sector, has renewed its partnership with Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust for another five years.
The extension has been awarded based on Medirest’s consistently high level of service delivery, expertise and innovations across the trust’s 52 sites, which span Hampshire from the New Forest to Portsmouth, Petersfield and Alton.
Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust provides community health, mental health and learning disability services across the county, and is one of the largest providers of such specialist services in England.
Medirest will carry on with support services such as cleaning and portering – delivered by its 280-strong team. Investment in new equipment has been promised as part of the new deal, including a cleaning robot for cleaning procedures in open spaces, an upgraded auditing system for alignment with the 2021 National Cleaning Standards, frictionless FM technology linked to integrated workforce management solutions, a new laundry system for cleaning cloths and mop heads – as well as iMops with fast brush rotations.
The firm will introduce a digital time, attendance and scheduling system to support colleagues working on-site. The team will also be improving the HSE oversight across the large estate.
Patient-centred
Compass Group’s Positive Impressions programme, which underpins the healthcare division’s purpose of ‘Performance with Heart’, will also be rolled out in the coming months. The programme is designed to measure the patient experience and enhance patient-centred training in delivering care based on “communication, awareness, respect and empathy”.
Russell Blake, managing director of Healthcare at Compass Group UK & Ireland, said: “The best patient experience is fundamental to the continued success of the trust and we never underestimate the role we play in achieving this goal. This new contract builds on our existing six-year partnership, which has seen patient satisfaction levels consistently high.”
Heather Mitchell, the trust’s director of strategy and infrastructure transformation, added: “Medirest has been instrumental in assisting the trust to achieve the new National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021. On the strength of this introduction we are looking to achieve Exemplar Status in cleanliness from NHS England in 2023.”
