The fight to keep Rotherham NHS staff housed in hospital accommodation is ‘not over by a long shot’, as a community-based campaign organisation has offered further help. 

Sheffield and South Yorkshire Save Our NHS (SSONHS) were approached by staff facing eviction from their Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust accommodation in late July. 

At least 80 members of staff have until the end of January 2025 to leave their homes, due to ‘fire safety concerns’ in the buildings. 

Mick Suter, Chair of SSONHS, said: “Quite a few of the people who received the letters are international workers who were attracted to come to Rotherham because of the accommodation that they were offered. 

“The Trust is not providing alternative accommodation, and now that they’re pulling it out, staff feel betrayed.” 

The three blocks tenants are being evicted from, Swale Court, Derwent Court and Loxley Court, were built in the 1970s and are all located within the hospital grounds. 

A spokesperson for The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said: “Whilst action has been taken to mitigate the risks in the short term, due to the extensive nature of the work required, the costs to address the fire safety risks across all three blocks are not affordable.

“No tenants have been asked to leave before the end of their current lease.”

Notes from an Estates Strategy meeting between the Board of Directors in July 2023 revealed that when examining ‘effective and efficient use of space’, the Trust said: “We also have assets that may not be delivering the return to which they could such as our residential properties, which require refurbishment to improve the quality of accommodation, the staff offer and the income potential for the Trust.

“We will work with other public sector bodies to explore how the Trust can contribute to a wider need to make effective use of space across Rotherham.

“The ability of the Trust to make changes to its estate can be limited by leasehold arrangements and so the Trust must continually monitor and review its property portfolio to ensure that it provides cost and quality effective facilities, and that these can be developed in line with our service needs.”

The eviction letters were given to staff less than a week before the riots in Rotherham. Mr Suter said: “A number of the workers were worried to walk the streets here. 

“There is an increase in racism, and together none of this helps Rotherham NHS to provide the service we desperately need.”

According to the Rotherham Trust Workforce Race Equality Standard Report, in 2023, 14.2% of the staff at the hospital were BME. 

Mr Suter said: “They’re really helping out Rotherham hospital. There’s a crisis of staff shortages.” 

The 2022 Interim Annual Equality and Diversity Report for the Trust shows that every ethnic minority group, apart from Pakistani, has a higher proportion of staff working in the hospital than the proportion of those living in Rotherham. 

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said they have held two ‘listening events’ with residents to ‘understand their concerns’. 

The Trust said: “One to one meetings have been offered to all residents so their needs can be understood and solutions developed to resolve the situation.”

SSONHS have also received concerns by the staff over potential homelessness. 

The Progress on the Homelessness and Rough Sleeper Strategy 2023-2026 Report by Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council revealed that the number of new homelessness cases in the borough rose by 46% between 2021/22 and 2022/23. 

Mr Suter said: “There is no guarantee that if they evict people, these people are going to find anywhere, certainly in Rotherham. They are just adding to the problem.”

The spokesperson for The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said: “The Trust is committed to working with those residents affected by these changes to assist them in finding alternative accommodation and to retain them at the Trust for the benefit of patients.”

SSONHS have created an online petition to have the building safety report published by the Trust, and members have been communicating with MPs in Rotherham. There are plans to talk to the unions in the hospital, and to continue to protest. 

Mr Suter said: “Whether we will win this one or not, I don’t know, but we will do our damn best to hold them to account and expose them for what they are doing.” 

SSONHS’s petition can be found here.