PLANS to form a new company to provide maintenance services at York Hospital look to have been stepped up after staff were called into meetings this week.

York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is “actively exploring” a new way in which its Estates and Facilities department will operate as it looks to save £1 million.

The Press first reported in July that the trust informed 979 members of staff, including cleaners, porters and maintenance technicians, that it is looking at setting up a limited liability company.

It is hoped multiple existing contracts for maintenance work across North Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, and North Lincoln and Goole NHS Foundation Trusts, will become a thing of the past and fewer contracts will be needed to carry out the work.

However, staff are worried that their NHS terms and conditions, including pensions and sick pay, will end if a new company employs them, despite the trust owning and running it.

Ray Gray, regional officer for Unison, said the union is pushing the trust to provide answers about the plans.

He said: “These changes appear to be right across the country where most trusts are looking to provide ancillary services.

“It looks like the first step into privatisation, but we don’t know enough, so we have asked for their intentions and their intentions for the staff.”

A spokeswoman for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said the approach is based on a successful framework already operating throughout the country.

She said: “York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is actively exploring an alternative model for delivering estates and facilities services.

“Other trusts that have taken this step have benefitted from securing their estates and facilities services for the longer term, and the preservation of staff terms and conditions.

“This is an underlying principle in our discussions.

“No decisions have been made, however if we choose to progress this option, then there will be full consultation with all affected staff.”