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
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