Enhanced cleaning regimes in commercial and industrial premises have been a key tool in preventing disease over the past two years. Yet in clinical care settings, the focus has always been on cleanliness and hygiene to enhance infection control. Keeping hospitals and other facilities clean clearly presents a massive challenge to deliver across the modern healthcare system. Among the priorities for healthcare cleaning must be that it doesn’t interfere with clinical procedures. And here at Fidelis, we’ve got extensive experience of working in a variety of settings to deliver healthcare cleaning. In this blog, we’re going to take a closer look at three ways in which we deliver an excellent medical and healthcare cleaning service.
Healthcare cleaning at the highest standards
It’s a full-time job to keep 21st-century healthcare facilities clean, as they’re complex environments. While it’s important to keep all areas clean, it’s also vital to pay special attention to certain zones. A key purpose for cleaning hospitals is to reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections. Whether it’s tackling MRSA or other ‘superbugs’, a seasonal infection such as Norovirus, or an endemic disease like Covid, infection control remains of paramount importance.
Indeed, it’s important to maintain the highest of specifications when it comes to cleaning. As part of its broader framework, the NHS published new national standards of healthcare cleanliness in April 2021. One focus is on the need for a collaborative approach, together with clear lines of responsibility. The standards also produce a renewed commitment to measure and benchmark performance in a uniform way. Compliance with standards and auditing processes are written into contracts with cleaning service providers to help achieve that consistency. By contracting out to a specialist cleaning company such as Fidelis, NHS hospitals and other healthcare providers can demonstrate that this is happening.
Making a difference with Fidelis
Our medical and healthcare cleaning provides a clean and safe environment for healthcare which is a key priority for the sector. Our specialist medical cleaning team works with you to ensure that you meet Care Quality Commission (CQC) requirements. These CQC standards emphasise the necessity of a quality and trustworthy commercial cleaning partner. We provide flexible, high-quality daily cleaning of premises to maintain a clean, productive, and professional clinical area at all times. By keeping out of the way of clinicians, we support them in doing the best possible job. And now more than ever, we need healthcare professionals to be able to focus on what they do best: provide excellent clinical care.
Our team of cleaning operatives is highly trained, medically fit, well-equipped, security cleared and inoculated to protect themselves from hazard. We implement a thorough training and development programme with advanced security checks, including DBS checks, for all our operatives working within this sector. This requires operatives to sign confidentiality agreements and to be trained accordingly regarding sensitive data. Our operatives are carefully selected and trained to meet the requirements of your site. Fidelis’ comprehensive training and development is focused on the delivery of world class service, which our reputation is built upon. Quality, personable customer engagement both with your team as well as your patients is essential.
3 ways in which we achieve our medical and healthcare cleaning
1. Strict infection control procedures
A particular area of expertise for Fidelis is our infection control service. This successfully reduces the risk of infections, providing protection against MRSA, swine flu, C. difficile and norovirus, as well as Covid. We use appropriate products which are effective but safe, and we follow strict infection control protocols to ensure complete decontamination. When it comes to infection control, we pay particular attention to higher-risk surgical facilities, such as operating theatres and endoscopy units, as well as general wards and other areas.
2. National Colour Coding standards
We ensure all our cleaning operatives are National Colour Coding cross-contamination trained. This extends to ensuring that waste is properly categorised and placed in properly coded bags and containers. (For instance, in England, some waste is known as offensive hygiene waste and is sorted into yellow bags with a black stripe). We are also a licensed waste carrier with a fully traceable waste disposal system, which means that we can undertake every stage of clinical waste removal and sharps disposal.
3. Advice on best practice
We help ensure medical and healthcare facilities achieve full compliance with CQC requirements by providing free advice. We have extensive knowledge and understanding of hygiene in healthcare and medical settings, working in hospitals, doctor surgeries and dental practices. This allows us to provide support throughout the sector by planning daily and periodic deep cleaning regimes that deliver.
To find out more about the Fidelis and the REACT family of companies, and our range of higher education cleaning services, contact one of the team today.
- Telephone: 0845 431 0382 | 0121 289 3258
- Email: info@fidelisgroup.co.uk
- Website: www.fidelisgroup.co.uk
Post by Jon Shaw
Jon is Managing Director at Fidelis Contract Services Ltd, a business dedicated to performance and professionalism in contract cleaning. Having been part of Fidelis for four years, and MD since December 2021, Jon knows the value of the company’s staff in building trust for successful long-term partnerships with clients in a range of sectors.
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