The Nursing Week


Exclusive Sarah Calkin sarah.calkin@emap.com


More than half of nurses believe cleaning services at their organisation are inadequate, with around a third saying they have cleaned toilets or mopped the fl oor during the past year. Over 1,000 nurses and healthcare assistants responded to our survey on cleaning practices and attitudes. It follows criticism of Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust for leaving nurses to “deep clean” bed areas following the discharge or transfer of infectious patients (news, 7 August, page 5). A fi fth of survey respondents said their trust had cut cleaning services in the last year, while 37% said their trust would not close a bed if it had not been cleaned properly. Two-fi fths said they had cleaned a bed area or single room following the discharge of an infectious patient, and 81% had cleaned up after the discharge of a non-infectious patient. However, almost three- quarters had not received training on how to do so. Rose Gallagher, the Royal


College of Nursing’s adviser on infection prevention and control, said lack of training was a patient safety risk. “This is not about saying


nurses are too posh to wash… Cleaning in hospitals is not the same as cleaning your own home,” she said. It is best practice for acute


trusts to have 24/7 cleaning services. However, only 60% of respondents working in acute trusts knew their hospital had one.


Nurses left to fi ll gaps in cleaning


In the last 12 months nurses have been required to clean the following


100% 81% 75% 21% 50% 40% 39% 25% 25% 0% 36% 25%


Key: *1


A bed/single


room following the discharge of a non- infectious patient


*2 A bed/single


room following the discharge of an infectious patient


Cleaning bed areas routinely after patient discharge


Ms Gallagher said it was important nurses made sure they knew what level of cleaning support they were supposed to be getting. Of those respondents that


said they did have a 24/7 service, 51% said there were not always enough cleaners and they had to carry out extra cleaning duties at night and at weekends, However, 30% said they were required to provide cleaning support at all times of the day or night. Nurses reported cleaning corridors, computers, nursing stations, offi ces and waiting areas.


Andrew Jones, president of


the Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals, told Nursing Times he would not


expect these jobs to fall to nurses, but it was “inevitable” nurses would end up doing some cleaning of patient areas during out-of-hour periods. He said a number of


hospital trusts had looked at having dedicated cleaning teams to do all discharge cleaning, but could not make it work logistically because most patients were discharged at around the same time. Mr Jones said best practice


required a ward to have a dedicated cleaner who could become part of the team. “When that happens we


get better cleanliness standards and a better motivated workforce,” he said. “Some of the [survey] responses would suggest


2 Nursing Times 04.09.12/ Vol 108 No 36 / www.nursingtimes.net 24% 39%


Some – basic cleaning of the patient bed areas


16%


How much cleaning is it appropriate for nurses to do?


Clean when necessary


None


that’s not the case as often as we would want.” A new specifi cation on


cleaning in hospitals was published last year by the Department of Health, National Patient Safety Agency and the British Standards Institution. However, it does not specify what is appropriate and not appropriate for nurses to do; instead it stresses the importance of being clear about responsibilities. Respondents to our survey


had a mixed attitude towards how much cleaning nurses could expect to do, with 16% saying they should not do any cleaning. Tracey Cooper, president of the Infection Prevention


A Room*1 A Room*2 Toilets


walls/fl oors Other


Bathrooms Mop


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