CLEANING and laundry staff at Ipswich Hospital will soon get to learn of their future as new contractors take over.Some workers at the Heath Road site have been making claims of low morale after learning the laundry contract was to be shifted off site.

CLEANING and laundry staff at Ipswich Hospital will soon get to learn of their future as new contractors take over.

Some workers at the Heath Road site have been making claims of low morale after learning the laundry contract was to be shifted off site.

They claimed that they had not been told what was happening to them and whether any jobs would be there for them when new contractors OCS and Initial take over the cleaning and laundry contracts in February.

Currently cleaning company Sodexho has the contract and has done for seven years, but that runs out in February.

Staff are actually employed by the cleaning contractors rather than the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust.

Although the new contract was awarded in October – after The Evening Star featured complaints about the cleanliness of wards – workers recently contacted us to say that they had still not been told what was happening to their jobs.

But hospital spokeswoman Jan Rowsell said individual interviews are now taking place to let employees know exactly what is there for each of them.

She said that although the hospital hoped there would be no job losses, nothing would be clear until all the interviews were over and the new contractors were in place.

Ms Rowsell said: "We are very hopeful that any job losses will be kept to a minimum.

"Wherever possible we hope that there will be other roles for people whose usual roles have disappeared."

She said that there should be enough roles for everyone but some people might decide they do not want the role offered to them and decide to find something else.

Some members of staff have worked at the hospital for many years but Ms Rowsell said there were others there on gap years or short term contracts and it is hoped there may be some natural wastage where people decide to leave.

Ms Rowsell said: "We are doing everything we can to keep people in touch and up to date and inform them about what is happening.

"Change is unsettling and we are really grateful for all the hard work that everyone puts in."

WEBLINK: www.ipswichhospital.org.uk