Telephone enquiries, please contact: Trevor Reed on telephone (0113) 206 5885

Dear Mr Mason

Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

I am writing in response to your e-mail on 14 January requesting information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. It is my responsibility to respond to such requests on behalf of the Trust. Your queries are reproduced below along with our responses.

Please could you let me know the answer to the three questions below relating to the Trust's internal transport provision for the likes of internal mail, pathology specimens, sterile services department, electro-biomedical engineering, pharmacy, patient records and stores.

1. Who is your current provider?

All of the above types of services are provided internally by Leeds Teaching Hospitals, with the exception of sterile services, which are provided externally by B Braun

2. How much do you pay for the services per year?

The annual budget for the above types of services is approximately £1.8 million.

3. When was the contract/service level agreement last market tested to ensure best value?

We operate a 3 to 5 year rolling programme of market testing to ensure our services represent best value. For example, our patient transport services were last market-tested in 2009. If you have a query concerning a particular type of service, please feel free to use the contact details shown in the next section.

4. Who is the person(s) responsible for such transport and what are their postal, phone and email addresses.

All enquires regarding transport should be made to

Chris Ayres, 

Deputy Head of Facilities (Support Services)

Educational Training & Development Centre

St James' University Hospital

Leeds. LS9 7TF

All Trust e-mail addresses take the format [email address]

I hope this is helpful. If you are not happy with the service you have received in relation to your request for any reason then please write to Trevor Reed at the address shown above.

If you continue to be dissatisfied you have the right to contact the Information Commissioner. Generally, the Commissioner cannot make a decision until you have exhausted the Trust's complaints procedure. Should you wish to contact the Information Commissioner you can do so by writing to The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Ross Langford

Head of Communications