I recently wrote to Chesterfield Royal Hospital following my meeting with Lee Outhwaite, the Director of Financing and Contracting at the Hospital regarding their plans to create a wholly owned subsidiary company. I have received the response above. Their response clarifies some of the questions that had been raised and I am pleased to see that the Royal has been able to offer these reassurances, but the ongoing question about future working conditions remain, as do more fundamental questions about taking NHS jobs out of the public sector. I appreciate the clarification they offer around pensions and outsourcing but I still have reservations about the Royal’s proposals. I am in the process of organising meetings with the unions and other staff groups at the hospital.