Cleaning Industry News June 2008

THE CSSA REJECTS NURSES CALL FOR RETURN TO IN HOUSE HOSPITAL CLEANING.
After the vote by the Royal College of Nursing at their recent conference to campaign for an end to contracted out cleaning, CSSA Director General Andrew Large said: "Without contract cleaning, UK hospitals would be in a lot worse state than they currently are".

He went on to say, "In February, a NHS Cleaning Summit brought together all of the key players in hospital cleaning, to look for shared solutions to the current issues. This is a collaborative exercise that recognises it is better to work together for the good of patients rather than engage in futile arguments about state ownership. It would be much more constructive if the RCN were to put its weight behind these efforts rather than playing to
the gallery".

The report by The Cleaning and Support Services Association (CSSA), goes on to state that some 60 to 65% of UK hospitals are in-house cleaned. Yet it claims that despite this, the UK has one of the worst healthcare associated infection rates in Europe. In the recent deep clean programme, contract cleaners were brought in to support in house cleaners that could not cope with the work.

They go on to say that, without fundamental improvements in hand hygiene, bed management and antibiotic prescribing practice, no amount of cleaning, whoever does it, is going to make a difference to infection rates. Also that the real issues are common to all NHS cleaning operations, be they outsourced or in-house.

They are the under-resourcing of cleaning, low prioritisation of cleaning by NHS Trusts and a lack of screening and segregation of patients with infections. Unless these issues and the others mentioned above are resolved then the situation will not improve.

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Cleaning contractors offered free advice by the Health and Safety Executive
The Health and Safety Executive are now offering free advice to cut workplace accidents in the cleaning industry. Their current promotion is called the shattered lives campaign and is aimed at those most at risk and those best placed to take action to avoid accidents. Therefore cleaning contractors, estate managers and facilities managers are their main targets.

More than 1000 British workers a month suffer serious injury following a slip, trip or fall. The HSE's advice helps equip businesses with the skills needed to assess the risks associated with cleaning. Statistics reveal that 3.3 million working days were lost in London due to workplace injury and ill health in 2006/7.

Preventing workplace incidents is good for the health of employees, therefore research and information is being made available on many subjects including safety clothing, footwear, gloves, equipment etc, along with advice specifically for preventing falls. Information on floor cleaning, contamination control and how to manage chemicals to avoid dermatitis is also offered.

For further assistance contact the HSE on 020 7556 2187 or email external.relations@hse.gsi.gov.uk

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AMBULANCES COMPLETELY MISSED IN MAJOR HOSPITAL CLEAN UP
The government recently spent millions to clean hospitals but allocated nothing to clean the ambulances used to transport patients to and from the hospitals, according to a recent survey by Unison, the public services union.

With widely differing methods of cleaning ambulances throughout the country, many are often found to be too dirty and become a means of transmitting potentially fatal viruses and bacteria to patients, especially
Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium difficile.

Unfortunately experts in cleaning and disinfecting are hardly ever used, the result being that the paramedics are often forced to tidy up themselves, thus wasting precious time and more importantly, not doing a thorough job. The only precaution taken in most cases is to disinfect the vehicle after being used to transport a patient suffering from a known virus or contagious disease.

Luckily, however, there are a few cases of excellence, such as the London Ambulance Service that has now employed expert cleaners for every vehicle. These firms clean the vehicles thoroughly and regularly replace the
instruments used by the paramedics.

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HOSPITALS STILL STRUGGLING TO COMPLETE CLEANING PROGRAMME
The widely publicised hospital "deep clean" operation, continues to struggle to hit targets, as a number of trusts admit they will still miss the new deadline, including one that doesn't expect to finish until October. A target of March this year was originally set, but ministers were forced to move that to the end of June, giving hospitals an extra three months to halve their rates of MRSA infection.

Such actions are an admission of failure by the Government, say campaigners. Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb said the original deadline was "clearly March of this year" but added: "The moving
of goalposts by the Government is all too familiar."

Firms hired to carry out the hygiene blitz also warn that it is no more than a publicity stunt which will fail to halt the spread of MRSA or bugs such as Clostridium difficile. Andrew Large, of the Cleaning and Support Services
Association, warned more money was needed, "Without further investment in time or more equipment, things will slip back to the way they were and we will be no better off," he said.

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FACE OF FAMOUS LONDON BUILDING SET FOR MAJOR CLEAN
The face of a famous London building will disappear for nine months while it is cleaned. The 100-year-old Harrods frontage in Brompton Road will be hidden behind a giant protective mesh as workmen remove the effects of pollution from its terracotta tiles. Cleaning the whole outside of the building will take four years.

A Harrods spokesman said: "The terracotta requires refurbishment every 10 years. Once finished, it will look like new." Designed by CW Stephens, the frontage was built between 1901 and 1905. The building, situated in Brompton Road, Knightsbridge, was given a Grade II listing by English Heritage in 2000.

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