Worcestershire NHS Case Study - Sitemark Ltd
Case study - Worcestershire NHS
Worcestershire's health trusts are achieving best cleaning practice - for not a penny more than they need pay - and they will keep it that way, using objective measurements introduced by i-Clean Systems
 
The Department of Health's Revised Guidance on Contracting for Cleaning, and aspects of the environmental standards set by the PEAT initiative, will be met - cost effectively - in Worcestershire's health trusts following a comprehensive review using the i-Clean Cleaning Management System.
 
A task-based benchmarking exercise, making references to objective standards published by the British Institute of Cleaning Science, led to recalculations of the resource needed in various risk areas found in the NHS, where high standards are critical to patients' well-being. Revised budgets were agreed following the in-depth audit, including £200,000 of investment in extra staff and a refurbishment programme in Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
 
The review indicated that in lower risk, community care areas, managers were achieving satisfactory cleaning results with 20% less cost than is typical.
 
"Essentially, now, we have a fact-based formula with which we can manage our cleaning operations," comments John Roberts, facilities services manager for Worcestershire Primary Care & Mental Health Trust, who led the county-wide review. "This means, for example, that we avoid using an average sq metre rate and substitute a rate that is relative to the risk area.
 
"A low risk situation might need £9 a sq metre - compared to £50 in a high risk area." "Learning about the cost variations between different risk areas was, for me,the most remarkable outcome of the i-Clean Systems review," adds Kim Kelly, facilities monitoring officer.
 
Worcestershire Primary Care Trust commissions and provides healthcare for a population of 552,000 in Worcestershire, a mixed rural and urban area of over 500 square miles. The Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust provides mental health, substance misuse and learning disability services. The Acute Trust provides services from three sites in Kidderminster, Worcester and Redditch.
 
Since August 2005 the Worcestershire based i-Clean Cleaning Management System has attracted interest from a variety of public, commercial, manufacturing and service sectors, with healthcare and education particularly well represented.
 
T: 01684 580680
E: efficiency@sitemark.co.uk
W: www.sitemark.co.uk