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• Revised guidance on contracting for cleaning published
  

Revised guidance on contracting for cleaning published

The National Standards of Cleanliness have been revised and renamed the National Specifications for Cleanliness. These revised specifications are now incorporated into Revised Guidance on Contracting for Cleaning produced by NHS Estates and published jointly by the Department of Health (DH) (1).
High quality cleaning in healthcare facilities is important because it assures pleasant surroundings for patients that implies a good standard of care, and because the environment may play a role in the transmission of some healthcare associated infections.

A key issue in relation to maintaining standards of cleaning in the NHS has been the impact that compulsory competitive tendering has had on the quality of cleaning services, since cost has often been the major consideration when contracts are awarded. The revised Guidance on Contracting for Cleaning seeks to address this problem by providing NHS Trusts with best practice guidance on evaluating and awarding cleaning contracts. In addition, it includes recommended minimum cleaning frequencies, and links to an updated (web based) healthcare cleaning manual (2).

The NHS Plan (3) highlighted the need to improve standards of cleanliness across the NHS and has been followed by a number of initiatives directed at this problem, co-ordinated by NHS Estates <http://www.cleanhospitals.com>. These have included the Patient Environment Action Teams (PEAT) who undertake unannounced inspections to report on standards of cleanliness; the National Standards of Cleanliness (first published in 2001) that enable hospitals to measure and compare their cleanliness; and guidance on cleaning methods contained in an NHS healthcare cleaning manual (2). In addition, modern matrons have been identified as playing a key role in assuring cleaning standards at ward level (4).