PEMBROKE – After an extensive review, and in a move which will guarantee that there will be no layoffs, the Pembroke Regional Hospital has opted to move all internal laundry services to an offsite provider later this year.
“Obviously a decision of this nature is not taken lightly,” said PRH President and CEO Pierre Noel. “Indeed, it was made with a great deal of consideration, not only for our staff, but also for the greater good of the hospital and, ultimately, the community,”
The hospital has operated an internal laundry service since its inception in 1878.
Over the years, PRH had expanded the service to include contracts servicing many other agencies including long term care facilities, and other healthcare partners. However, all of those contracts have been withdrawn over time.
“With increasing financial pressures on our hospital, we regularly conduct reviews of the cost effectiveness of our services and reviewing our laundry service was part of this process,” Mr. Noel said, adding that the reason for moving forward with the decision at this time was three-fold.
Firstly, PRH is currently no longer able to provide laundry services in the most effective and efficient way while minimizing the health and safety concerns for its staff.
Secondly, the current laundry equipment is at the end of its useful life and there is a need for an investment in new equipment estimated to be in the range of over half a million dollars in order to retain an in-house laundry. These are dollars that are limited and needed for investments in medical and diagnostic equipment to serve patients.
And lastly, initial cost estimates from a regional laundry service owned by the hospitals in Ottawa are lower than the cost of continuing to do laundry internally. This demonstrates that there is no longer a positive business case which would justify making the needed investment in new equipment.
Mr. Noel said that the hospital is working closely with its union to ensure a smooth transition for the laundry staff.
In terms of selecting a new laundry provider, Mr. Noel said that a competitive process will be taking place over the next few months in order to ensure that the hospital meets its obligations under the Broader Public Sector procurement legislation.
“We firmly believe that this is the right decision for our hospital at this particular point in time,” Mr. Noel said.
