Staff at Barnet Hospital were praised for a ‘phenomenal achievement’ after portering, catering and cleaning services were all awarded the NHS ‘exemplar’ status.

The hospital, which works in partnership with Medirest in the provision of portering, catering and cleaning services, is only the second hospital in the country to have achieved the prestigious status for all three.

Inspectors from NHS England visited the hospital in July to evaluate and review the three services and concluded:

  • the hospital had outstanding leadership and collaboration between the portering team, other facilities teams and clinical colleagues.
  • there was excellent use of digital technology to shape and prioritise workload, as well as utilising digital tools to enable flexibility in reacting to day-to-day challenges. In particular the use of cleaning standards.
  • there was evidence of positive working relationships at ward level, which showed clear knowledge of the demand on clinical services as well as the ability to flex and prioritise to meet and adapt to this.
  • there was excellent teamwork and organisation within the catering teams. Team members were extremely proud of their menus and service model, which was evidently meeting the varying needs of patients.

The NHS exemplar recognition acknowledges the delivery of the best-in-class services and that the team will share learnings and experiences with other trusts.

Barnet Hospital and Medirest, which is the healthcare division of Compass Group UK and Ireland, have worked together since 2015.

Emma Brookes, Head of Soft FM Strategy and Operations at NHS England, said: “It is so encouraging to see true partnership working between our hospitals and our facilities management partners to ensure patients, staff and visitors have access to great food in a clean and safe environment that supports patient care and recovery.”

Deborah Sanders, Barnet Hospital chief executive said: “This is a phenomenal achievement for our domestic, portering and catering colleagues. I am so pleased that they have been recognised in this way, as they work so hard to help deliver excellent care for our patients. They should be incredibly proud of themselves. This award is testament to the wonderful partnership between Medirest and Barnet Hospital - congratulations to everybody.”

Russell Blake, Managing Director, Compass Group UK & Ireland – Healthcare: “Our teams work to support our partners, with the aim of delivering our Performance with Heart ethos. This means that when we receive external verification that these partnerships are delivering exemplary services, we are thrilled. Within Barnet our colleagues work tirelessly across these services to deliver for patients and I would like to thank them for going above and beyond and congratulate them on this achievement.”

The Medirest team at Barnet