Three trusts have cancelled a joint occupational health service after a row over standards, HSJ has reported.
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership Trust, George Eliot Hospitals Trust and South Warwickshire Foundation Trust are moving to new providers, having previously had their occupational health services run by University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire.
UHCW operates a shared occupational health service for its own staff and those of GEH, CWPT and other external clients. It offers services including sickness management referrals, pre-employment health assessments, and vaccinations.
But HSJ has been told that UHCW ceased the service to some other trusts earlier this year, after they stopped paying invoices. This followed complaints that the service was too focused on UHCW’s own needs.
Minutes of one CWPT board meeting said non-executive director Philip Wells had “highlighted the ongoing issues associated with the occupational health contract” and that CWPT was “working to move away from a provider that was not delivering the required standard of service”. He added that the “wider impact on the trust’s workforce” of the shortcomings “has become clearer”.
A report from the trust’s people committee cited “delays impacting recruitment and time to hire”, and “excessive waiting times for occupational health referrals”.
Date: 24 August