Meeting new standards
Chad Grainger, Key Account Manager – Public Services at Kärcher UK, highlights how facilities managers can boost their productivity and efficiency whilst meeting cleaning standards.
The arrival of the new National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021 has resulted in new targets for cleaners, facilities managers, and healthcare staff. As part of these, stringent audits assessing overall cleanliness, and the demand to display star rating certificates in public spaces will potentially increase pressure and man-hours for cleaning teams.
To counteract this, empowering staff to work collectively with the right equipment and the right training will help them to meet these new goals, while simultaneously enhancing their productivity and ensuring that facilities are left safe and hygienic for patients and staff.
Adopting the right method
To remove unwanted dirt build-up, it’s imperative that effective cleaning strategies are employed. To support this, Kärcher’s unique PDIR cleaning method focuses on an outwards-in approach to reduce the amount of dirt that enters the facility. The Preventative, Daily, Interim, and Restorative cleaning method is a strategic approach that starts by tackling outdoor pollutants to stop them entering the premises where build-up can hamper overall cleanliness.
The PDIR method enables cleaners to reduce the hours spent doing traditional intensive and restorative cleaning, which requires vast amounts of time, energy, and chemical usage. Instead, by increasing Preventative, Daily, and Interim cleaning, costs can be saved, through the adoption of a regular pre-emptive process. Daily cleaning of flooring and outside spaces reduces dirt flow throughout the building to help to keep surfaces clean and contribute to a hygienic environment.
Preventing disruption
Restorative cleaning causes disruption to patients and hospital staff, as areas of the facility may need to be placed off-limits during cleaning. The need for this is reduced through the adoption of PDIR, minimising interruption and the disturbance of hospital staff. To further reduce this, it’s important that facilities managers employ a fleet of cleaning equipment that can run 24/7 with minimal breakdown risk to prevent downtime. From battery-powered equipment to reduce noise disruption, to ensuring reliability so that area closures are minimised, the right equipment is key.
52 | HEALTHCARE HYGIENE
Selecting a supplier that provides extensive aftersales support is important. Kärcher has recently extended its servicing model to include video diagnostics that enable trained engineers to guide equipment managers to repair machines remotely. If a fault cannot be solved through video diagnostics, Kärcher’s team of expert engineers will visit the site to fix the machine in-person.
Getting the right clean
With new strict measures it’s important that the same results are achieved time and time again. Whilst different cleaning teams will work throughout the hospital at different hours, a unique solution such as the Kärcher Intelligent Key (KIK) System will ensure that all staff can deliver a consistent quality of clean. The KIK system allows facilities managers to pre-set cleaning modes on the machines so that all operators can ensure the same level of cleanliness, no matter who is on shift.
Alongside this, ensuring that staff are trained enables them to get the most out of the machines. From understanding how the machines work to when each cleaning method is best applied, the Kärcher Academy is a reliable source of information to inform healthcare cleaners to maximise cleaning efficiency and boost cleaning productivity.
New cleaning standards and targets make it imperative that the right strategies and equipment are in place to enable cleaners and facilities managers to deliver high standards of healthcare hygiene. Supporting staff with the right cleaning methods, equipment, and training will boost overall efficiency and ensure that targets are met time and time again.
www.karcher.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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