Plan to axe laundry service sparks fury

Staff and residents at a hospice in Rotherham have reacted with disgust at proposals to axe their essential laundry service.

The service- which collects, washes and returns laundry to around 12 groups and 200 people- is set for the chop after Rotherham Council concluded that it was no longer profitable.

When the plans were first announced, the council came up against some strong opposition, although despite this, councillors still voted to push forward with proposals.

Rotherham Hospice claims that they will now be facing an additional expenditure of £18,000 for the use of alternative industrial laundry services.

Joanne Huckett, of Rotherham Hospice Trust, raged:

"It has always been most cost effective to send our laundry out to the council's laundry service but a good quality replacement service will bring an increased cost of more than £18,000 a year.

"Every penny coming into the Rotherham Hospice Trust is already earmarked for something.

"I don't know which magician's hat we are going to pull the money from. I will not allow meeting the extra laundry costs to compromise any services provided by the hospice to the people of Rotherham."

However, Rotherham Council seemed unrepentant and hit back:

"We understand the difficulty the hospice is facing but would maintain we have been providing a service to them for a long time that has supported them, precisely because it was so cheap.

"We also gave the hospice nine months' notice that there may be a change to the service, to give them time to find another supplier."

This looks like an argument that isn’t going to go away quietly any time soon.