YORK Hospital says the creation of a new company to deal with estates and facilities will not affect patients or staff.

Letters have been sent to staff at York Hospital outlining the creation of “an alternative delivery model for estates and facilities” throughout York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and consultation opened earlier this month.

A spokeswoman for the trust said the new Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) would “remain wholly owned by the NHS”, and talks were ongoing with staff and union representatives.

She said: “The way that the trust operates estates and facilities has not changed for many years and with the continued financial pressure across the NHS, both nationally and locally, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the standards that we aspire to for these essential services.

“If we do nothing, the pressure to reduce budgets further will inevitably continue and there will be the very real risk that the trust will need to put estates and facilities services out to tender. By creating an LLP we can access the commercial benefits enjoyed by the private sector whilst keeping these services under the ownership of the NHS.”

The company has already been formally registered, and the spokeswoman said the next step for the trust would be to develop a detailed plan, including timeframes for the consultation.

She said: “We will ensure that any staff moving to the new organisation will be able to keep their current NHS terms and conditions.

“We anticipate that, subject to and following staff consultation, York Teaching Hospital Facilities Management LLP (YTHFM) will become operational from October 1, 2018.”

The spokeswoman also said the changes would not affect patients at the hospital.

She said: “Since the trust will buy estates and facilities services from YTHFM through a contract, patients will continue to receive the same high standard of services.”

It was also announced this week that the trust had appointed a consortium called Perfect Circle to review its estate portfolio.

The trust has 67 sites, and the surveys will assess the conditions of all buildings - including York, Scarborough and Bridlington hospitals - to create a five-year maintenance plan and a 30-year asset replacement scheme.

Andrew Bennett, head of capital projects for the trust, said: “The outputs will form a key element of the trust’s estate strategy and underpin the development of plans to deliver best performance and value for money from the trust’s estate.”