[1] Traditionally, hospitals often had a dispatcher, a person sat at a central desk, taking calls from across all wards and departments where a porter is needed.
Just as porters could be needed at any time of the day or night so was this co-ordination function, making it quite an expensive overhead.
[2] More recently, an online, proprietary system called MyPorter has been introduced across several hospitals in England.
The dispatcher can see any responses to jobs and can contact the porter through radio communications to resolve any issues.
When Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust proposed in 2020 to extend its soft facilities management contract with ISS Mediclean until 2025 170 of the trust’s 464 doctors complained to the chief executive that their colleagues in cleaning, portering, catering and security services received worse pay and worse terms and conditions than NHS employees, including only statutory sick pay.