REGULAR EMBRACING FACTS
A new addition to the team of TC columnists, Bruce Blackledge, Managing Director of Arrow County Supplies, believes that we are in an era of innovation, and it is time for the cleaning industry to embrace fresh thinking.
The cleaning industry is notoriously competitive. To remain within the game, the need for service providers to become more innovative has increased, creating a culture that is intrinsically raising standards of hygiene, satisfaction and value for money for the healthcare sector.
The provision of effective cleaning is a critical success factor in the operation of a successful and safe healthcare facility, but so is the ability to operate within much tighter budget constraints. Professional cleaning providers have had to develop their offerings to be able to deliver on all fronts and be able to evidence not just what looks clean but also protect against the penalties associated with failing to reach the required standards.
As hospitals nationwide focus on reducing infection and operating costs, budgets are being squeezed and this is forcing cleaning providers to think outside of the box in the delivery of their services, and to find ways to maintain quality whilst keeping costs under control. The growing emphasis on measurement, training, standards, tools and systems has compelled a heightened level of professionalism in the cleaning industry, driving cleaning providers to re-assess their methods and techniques. Given the physical size of most healthcare settings, and the fact that many operate on a 24/7 basis, greater emphasis on cleaning innovation and service quality is now being made in order to keep quality high yet reduce the costs linked with labour intensive processes.
The identification and implementation of ‘innovation’ has become a real focal point for facilities providers and is often deeply linked to their strategic planning process. The implementation of innovation can be tough when it comes to large, established institutions and often one of the biggest challenges is changing of minds and hearts of people who are comfortable with traditional
www.tomorrowscleaning.com
ways of working. Proving that a more innovative approach supports continual improvement as well as hitting budget and regulatory objectives is key, and in many cases a series of small changes can yield huge results.
Recent market research commissioned by Interserve and Sheffield Hallam University suggests a shift from a pure cost and service level focus has occurred, with 90% of respondents requesting that new ideas be offered by their suppliers during the preparation and management of outsourced contracts. Devising new processes to best utilise product and man-power is now key to business growth in the cleaning sector. Winning and maintaining contracts requires more than just offering ‘as is’ cleaning services and providers are now required to adapt services to match not just the immediate needs, but to the potential wants of a client.
Forward thinking service providers understand the need to suggest and implement new working practices and the identification of new and safe products that work in the real world. More readily associated with the
Tomorrow’s Cleaning | 29
implementation of new technology or the development of new products, innovation is a more fluid and unrestricted practice than is currently realised and is something that can be applied to all areas within an organisation.
As we know, meeting the challenge of infection prevention in the healthcare sector requires more than just employing good in-house cleaners or outsourcing a reputable cleaning service provider. Through the application of innovation when it comes to workforce training and partnership working, the knowledge and empowerment of front-line professionals could be greatly enhanced, marking further growth for the sector as a whole.
Cleaning for healthcare is an immense and complex undertaking and the squeezing of budgets has unintentionality kick-started a new age for the cleaning sector. Forcing cleaning providers to operate in a leaner more flexible way, organisations have to re-think the way that things are done and work out how to make processes faster, better, more efficient than they ever have been before.
Shaking us all out of our comfort zones, businesses providing a cleaning service can now break free from the mould. Incorporating business techniques and tactics that may never have featured in the running of a cleaning service before, it is clear that the time for all encompassing innovation and fresh thinking is most certainly now.
For more information contact Arrow County Supplies here.
www.arrowcounty.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88