HEALTH officials have voiced their disappointment after catering services at James Cook Hospital were given a paltry one-star hygiene rating.

Inspectors found “major improvements” were needed at the Marton Road site after visiting in April – with shortcomings found in how food safety was managed, and the cleanliness of facilities.

Meal services at James Cook are run by services giant Serco. The firm said it was taking the findings extremely seriously and that the concerns “did not relate to hot food served to patients”.

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Council hygiene officials found improvements were needed in the “cleanliness and condition” of facilities and buildings at James Cook Hospital. This covers having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control to enable good food hygiene.

The hygiene of food handling was deemed generally satisfactory. But inspectors found “major improvements” were needed when it came to the management of food safety.

This includes systems or checks to ensure food sold or served is safe to eat, and evidence that staff know about food safety. South Tees Hospitals NHS Trust isn’t responsible for providing food at the hospital – with Serco signed up to provide grub under the terms of an historic PFI contract.

Officials weren’t happy with the one-out-of-five rating. A trust spokesperson said: “We expect the highest standards from the Serco company in all the services they provide to our patients, service users, colleagues and visitors, and were very disappointed by the findings of the inspection carried out by the local authority environmental health officers in April.

“Following the inspection of its food services, we have received assurances from Serco that it is addressing the issues raised. We have also raised the matter with the company which currently holds the hospital’s PFI contract.”.

The terms of the PFI deal signed in 2003 see holding company Endeavour SCH PLC responsible for services to maintain the building and provide catering services at James Cook. They also oversee providing what are termed “Soft FM services” which include cleaning, linen and laundry services.

South Tees is paying more than £1m a week for the PFI deal at the moment – with these costs set to get even larger before the deal ends in August 2033.

Annual costs to pay for it have grown to an eye-watering £59m. When it came to the one-star rating, Serco’s Sue Reed said the firm had consistently achieved five out of five scores from the council.

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The company’s head of food safety added: “Also, in March 2022 an external, independent hygiene audit resulted in a score of 89%, with 100% in the critical elements. However, the most recent inspection by Middlesbrough Council identified concerns relating to technical inaccuracies in our food safety management system.

“The concerns did not relate to hot food served to patients and we would like to emphasise that all food served at James Cook University Hospital is legally compliant.” But Ms Reed also said they “recognised and acknowledged” the inspection had highlighted standards were “not as we would expect”.

“We are taking this report extremely seriously and have conducted a full investigation,” she added. “Many of the issues identified in the report were rectified immediately, and we are now actively working in collaboration with the officers in Middlesbrough Council as a matter of urgency to demonstrate our commitment to attaining and maintaining the highest level of compliance.

“We will be requesting a reinspection and a rescore at the earliest opportunity.”

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