The challenge
Bournemouth needed a sustained increase in food hygiene inspection capacity, not a short-term fix. The service had a statutory inspection programme it could not fully meet with its in-house team, and a history of short locum placements that meant re-inducting a new officer every few months, with the inconsistency in approach that brings.
The council wanted volume, quality and, above all, continuity: an officer who would know the borough, its food businesses and its ways of working, and stay for the duration.
The solution
A four-year Statement of Works. Oyster agreed a fixed annual volume of 1,800 food hygiene inspections over a four-year term, giving the council a predictable, budgetable programme rather than a rolling series of locum bookings.
A dedicated, named officer. Rather than rotating resource, Oyster assigned a single fully qualified Environmental Health Officer with extensive food safety experience, meeting the Food Standards Agency competency requirements for the interventions carried out, to the programme for its full term. The council knows exactly who is doing the work, and the officer builds real knowledge of the borough’s food businesses.
Oyster behind the officer. Quality assurance, CPD monitoring, cover planning and account management sit with Oyster, so a single-officer model carries no single point of failure.
The results
- Inspections delivered to date: X against a target of X, on or ahead of schedule.
- One officer, known to the service, delivering the programme end to end: no re-induction, no variation in approach.
- A four-year fixed programme the council can plan and budget around.
- Compliance and enforcement outcomes, if available.