NHS England has made its first award of ‘Exemplar’ status for outstanding portering services, to Royal Surrey County Hospital and its partner Medirest, the healthcare division of Compass Group UK & Ireland.
Exemplar status for outstanding portering services has only been recently introduced to the portfolio of Exemplar activity that NHS England awards. This acknowledgement means Medirest and Royal Surrey now has triple Exemplar status across portering, cleaning and catering - another first within the NHS.
Royal Surrey has been awarded portering Exemplar status for its leadership throughout the hospital, providing partnership working between facilities and clinical teams, as well as using a systematic and digital approach to strengthen the aims of the workforce.
The NHS Exemplar recognition acknowledges the delivery of the best-in-class service and that the team will share learnings and experiences to enable other Trusts to follow suit. Last year, Medirest and Royal Surrey became the first hospital to receive the accreditation from NHS England for cleaning, acknowledging the early, smooth and professional implementation of the 2021 National Standards for Cleaning there. Exemplar status for catering followed in 2022.
Phil Shelley, Chair NHS Food Review and Senior NHS Operational & Policy Manager, comments: “Royal Surrey continues to raise the bar with its achievements, providing a platform for the workforce to lead such effective change. The team has, and continues to make, such a difference to everyone that uses Royal Surrey County Hospital.”
Gary Mountjoy, Associate Director of Estates and Facilities at Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust, says: “To be the first hospital in the UK to receive the triple - catering, cleaning and portering Exemplar site status is really a great achievement and I am very proud of our partnership and the people that deliver for our patients every day. This is testament to our dedicated and integrated partnership approach.”
Russell Blake, Managing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland – Healthcare adds: “Our work within Royal Surrey is a demonstration of our ambition to create meaningful partnerships that work for the specific needs of our clients and their patients, visitors and staff. This is a great example of best practice and as an Exemplar site for cleaning, catering and now portering, we are committed to sharing learnings with our clients and other hospitals.”
