ADMIN workers at Dorchester's flagship hospital are being asked to clean their own offices, it was claimed today.

Changes in the way the housekeeping team at Dorset County Hospital operates mean that offices will no longer be cleaned, it seems, while cleaning staff concentrate on medical areas of the hospital.

One disgruntled worker, who asked not to be named, said: "Anyone who works in an office at the hospital - right from the chief executive and highly paid consultants down to the poorest paid secretaries - now have to clean their own offices as well as doing their existing jobs."

The worker was speaking in response to a memo sent to staff from Pat Taylor, housekeeping and portering manager.

The memo leaked to the Echo has been sent to all wards and departments.

It said that a team of housekeeping assistants would be in the hospital from 10pm to 6am seven days a week to clean places including theatres, pathology labs, outpatient areas, children's centre, physiotherapy department, education centre and the pre-assessment unit.

The memo goes on to say: To be able to provide this out-of-hours cleaning service, the cleaning of offices and the daily replenishing of black bin liners will cease and will now be the responsibility of the departments concerned.

If you are unsure where to locate the vacuum cleaner or cleaning materials please bleep a housekeeping supervisor'.

The hospital worker added: "This is causing enormous resentment and discontent."

But the new cleaning arrangements could be changed again following the complaints.

A spokesman for the hospital said: "There has been a change in the cleaning rotas and, as a result of the concerns raised across the trust in response to these rotas, they are currently being reviewed.

"At present our housekeeping staff are working solidly on thoroughly cleaning the wards closed through Norovirus and once the outbreak is over further details about the new rotas will be communicated.

"We are pooling all resources in an effort to clean the wards affected by Norovirus. Unfortunately this may inconvenience a small group of people.

"We will review the situation as soon as possible and are very sorry for any concerns or anxieties this has caused any members of staff."