Chesterfield Royal Hospital patients' anger at US 'sell off' of vital service

The Derbyshire Times revealed earlier this month that the trust which runs the hospital planned to outsource its medical device management and decontamination services after a ‘thorough and lengthy review process’.

Chesterfield & District Trade Union Council criticised the move, but a spokesperson for Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said outsourcing was the best way to ‘protect terms and conditions for existing staff’.

MORE: Union anger as 'essential' Chesterfield Royal Hospital service outsourced to US company

And locals have also been having their say.

Posting on our Facebook page, Vicky Bates said: “They've done this before, to a department a family member of mine worked at. They were pressured to sign new contracts that would make them a lot worse off in the long run. It's a complete farce.”

Sue Underwood posted: “Private enterprise needs to make profits. They can do this by making their services more expensive or by cutting corners, none of which fit in with the NHS ethic.”

Maureen Spencer said: “Who has got shares in this company? All the money we have paid in should stay in OUR NHS and not be going to the fat cats.”

Other residents said they were not surprised by ‘further privatisation’ at the Royal.

Stew Campbell posted: “They been outsourcing for decades, it’s one of the reasons the costs to the NHS is already so high.”