Call for cleaning staff guarantee

Minimum cleaning staff quotas should be imposed on hospitals to help in the fight against infections, unions say.

Unison, which represents a range of staff including cleaners, nurses and porters, said hospitals should have two cleaners for every 30 patients.

Hospitals should be cleaned from 8am to 9pm every day to tackle bugs such as MRSA, Unison's annual conference in Manchester was also told.

But the government said cleaning was too complex to have specific quotas.

"We have made it clear that sufficient resources should be directed towards keeping hospitals clean"
Department of Health spokesman

The union complained there were no minimum staffing levels for cleaners or times for hospitals to be cleaned.

Officials also pressed for committees to be established in every single hospital in the UK, made up of cleaners, domestic supervisors, nurses and managers.

Karen Jennings, Unison's head of health, said: "We need to use the whole hospital team if we are going to fight off these superbugs.

"Cleaning staff are frustrated because they know which cleaning products are effective, what equipment they need, how many staff it takes to really clean a ward well, but they are rarely consulted or listened to.

"It should be a requirement that all NHS organisations have safe minimum staffing levels for their cleaning services that are based on quality, not cost, and with staff receiving proper, up to date training and equipment."

Ms Jennings said the recent deep clean exercise in hospitals was worthwhile but was only a starting point because regular, targeted cleaning would "significantly cut" the instances of MRSA.

Some delegates described situations where staffing was so short that if a cleaner had a day off there was no-one to cover for them.

Delegates also said cleaning staff should have better training.

Priority

The Cleaning and Support Services Association, which represents the private cleaning firms that have the contracts for many hospitals, has already claimed budgets have been squeezed in recent years.

But the government said cleaning was a priority.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "We have made it clear that sufficient resources should be directed towards keeping hospitals clean.

"However, the number of cleaners needed is more complex than just how many patients there are.

"For example, it also depends on equipment, layout, age and condition of estate, amount of equipment and footfall."

He also pointed out standards of cleanliness had been laid down and cleaning made a top priority in the government's infection strategy published in January.

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Department of Health
Cleaning and Support Services Association
Unison
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