"When we consolidated the Saint-Joseph, Saint-Michel and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours hospitals into the Paris-Saint-Joseph hospital complex in early 2006, our goal was to create a centre of excellence in medical and surgical care whose size and scope would put us head-to-head with our competitors and at the same time yield substantial savings in operating expenses," explains Yves Barrault, Managing Director of the Paris-Saint-Joseph hospital complex. "Consequently, we decided to return our focus to our core business, and as a result we signed a partnership with Veolia Environnement to create SEDS, a dedicated company in which we hold a 34% share, to manage the hospital's support functions. This novel solution, halfway between traditional outsourcing and continued responsibility for these activities as part of our hospital management, hadn't previously been explored in the hospital sector. It allows us to retain a role in managing services that relate to our support functions and to ensure that our staff affected by the move continue to enjoy a truly satisfactory employment package. By choosing to join SEDS, they can remain in their current position at the same site and maintain all of their current benefits. Moreover, they gain new opportunities for career development and training that the hospital alone was unable to offer. "This solution enables us to simultaneously fulfil two objectives, quality and cost-effectiveness, because - though this may be contrary to accepted wisdom - the fact is that when we work better, we spend less. We are focusing once again on our core mission, and our patients are receiving excellent care. Meanwhile, the hospital's support personnel, who in the past often felt relegated to secondary status, are now the centre of attention at SEDS.