Deep-cleaning under fire
Monday, 14 Jan 2008 10:35
NHS hospital wards are to be deep-cleaned by the spring
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The £50 million hospital deep-cleaning programme has come under fire from cleaning companies and NHS managers.
Deep-cleaning of hospital wards was announced last year by the prime minister as part of the attempt to reduce rates of hospital-acquired infections (HCAIs) such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile (C.diff).
All NHS hospitals are to carry out the comprehensive cleaning by the end of March this year but the initiative has received criticism from a number of quarters.
In September the prestigious Lancet journal accused the government of "pandering to populism about hospital cleanliness" and said it had failed to listen to evidence about what is needed.
And today the Cleaning and Support Services Association (CSSA), which represents hospital cleaning firms, questioned the government's cleaning strategy.
"In my view, it would be a better use of money - and I think our members would prefer it - if the day-to-day cleaning was funded properly," CSSA director general Andrew Large told the BBC.
He claimed that hospitals have been "squeezing" cleaning budgets over the last few years, resulting in hospitals being cleaned less frequently.
"So it now seems strange to us that we are being given contracts to carry out these deep cleans," Mr Large said.
"You have to wonder, if the cleaning budgets had not been cut would this be necessary? There is disruption to patients as wards have to be emptied."
The NHS Confederation, which represents 95 per cent of NHS organisations, has also questioned the deep-clean policy.
"We would like policy to be based on evidence and we have picked up a degree of scepticism from a number of our members about this," Nigel Edwards, director of policy at the confederation, said.
"We would not want to see relatively new hospitals being deep cleaned; it would be a waste of money."
Last week the health secretary Alan Johnson said the government "will continue to do all we can to tackle infection".
Chief nursing officer Christine Beasley added that a "range of measures" is needed to reduce MRSA and C.diff.
"A clean environment is extremely important in its own right, as well being the best platform from which to tackle HCAIs," she said.