A HOSPITAL trust is to look again at its plans to contract a private company to provide hospital transport for patients.

The GMB union claims the company, Savoy Ventures Ltd, has told workers it plans to ignore regulations which bind companies to providing the same terms and conditions for workers who transfer from the public sector.

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) lost the contract to provide transport for non-urgent patients across south-east London when the service was put out to tender by the South London Healthcare Trust.

Savoy Ventures is the trust’s preferred bidder to take over the service from September 1, although the contract has not yet been signed.

But at a mass meeting of the 78 GMB members due to transfer employment from the LAS to the new company, the GMB claims Savoy Ventures told the workers it would not be keeping to the TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) regulations.

Instead it told them they would lose their final salary pension scheme and their London weighting allowance, salaries may be lowered to those of the company’s existing employees and they would have to work different shift patterns.

The GMB has raised its concerns about Savoy Ventures with the trust, including claims the company’s director, Robert Adams, has been involved with four previous companies which were wound up owing money to HM Revenue and Customs.

It is now balloting members for strike action.

The trust says it is looking at some of the issues raised by the union.