HOSPITAL chiefs have moved to reassure patients following the collapse of Carillion.

The firm, which manages the Great Western Hospital’s cleaning and catering services, announced this morning that it had gone into liquidation.

It follows a difficult year for Carillion, which has battled rising debt – borrowing almost £700m in the first half of last year.

In December, the firm announced that it was selling contracts at 15 hospital trusts to Serco. GWH was one of the 15 sites that formed part of the deal.

Carillion employs 398 staff at the Great Western Hospital.

Bosses at the Marlborough Road hospital said they expected the firm’s liquidation to have “minimal disruption” for patients or visitors.

A spokesman for Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We have planned in advance for such a situation, working closely with our PFI partners, and our teams are now working hard to ensure services provided by Carillion continue as normal.

“Although this is a developing situation, we fully expect services at GWH to continue as normal throughout today and the remainder of this week, and for there to be minimal disruption to patients or visitors.

“Our Carillion colleagues, many of whom have worked with the Trust for many years, are just as much a part of our team as our own staff and, while this may be an unsettling time, we thank them for their continued support.

“We remain in close contact with our PFI provider, which holds the contract with Carillion, and have been given assurances that all staff will continue to be paid as normal.”

Carillion announced this morning that talks with the government and lenders over the weekend had collapsed, saying they had “no choice” but to place the company into liquidation.

The government has appointed accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers as “special managers” overseeing the liquidation of the company.

Staff will be paid by the government, through the “official receiver”.

Cabinet Office minister David Liddington told the BBC’s Today Programme this morning: “The message to workers is ‘come in to work today, there is important work to be done, and you will be paid’.

“That money that has been budgeted for, for your wages, for those public sector contracts is there, because we want that continuity to be assured.”

Philip Green, chairman of Carillion, said: “Over recent months huge efforts have been made to restructure Carillion to deliver its sustainable future and the Board is very grateful for the huge efforts made by Keith Cochrane, our executive team and many others who have worked tirelessly over this period.

“In recent days, however, we have been unable to secure the funding to support our business plan and it is therefore with the deepest regret that we have arrived at this decision.”

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