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Lift Maintenance and modernisation at the Great Western Hospital, Swindon
The Great Western Hospital in Swindon is another of the NHS hospitals where, over the years, Jackson has proudly assisted with lift maintenance and modernisation services. The 450-bed hospital serves approximately 300,000 local people and was formally opened in 2003 by the late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The hospital has five storeys, plus a lower ground floor, and has a range of lifts that include conventional passenger and bed lifts to allow patients to be moved to and from operating theatres, intensive care, and specialist treatment wards.
During the latter part of 2022, Jackson tendered and won a contract for the modernisation of five passenger lifts at the Great Western Hospital. The complex modernisation of the lifts related specifically to the emergency safety gear arrangement – a change of type from rope brakes to bi-directional safety gears with O/S monitoring. Once completed, Jackson undertook the maintenance of the five lifts for a period of 12 months, whilst the 20 other lifts remained under maintenance by the hospital’s existing incumbent lift service provider.
In 2024, when the contract renewal time for all of the hospital’s 25-plus lifts came up, Jackson was asked to tender for the next lift maintenance period. In discussion with the Trust, we were informed that it was necessary to have a responsive and reliable lift maintenance service. This is something Jackson is passionate about and our responsiveness is supported by local, directly employed engineers and supervisors who are always available when needed. This was appreciated by the Trust during our maintenance of the five modernised lifts.
Responding to the request, our Bristol Sales Team submitted the detailed competitive tender, as required by the Trust. With all NHS tenders of this type, cost is a key decider and is measured against responsiveness and quality. Shortly after our submission, we were delighted when the Great Western Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust informed us that we had been awarded the contract. Our Bristol team and local engineers are very pleased to support the hospital and the staff.