HEALTHCARE HYGIENE Hospital hygiene – in a hurry


Hygiene is of paramount importance in any hospital, but with staff in short supply it can be difficult to find the time to clean every surface and wash and dry hands as effectively as is required. Liam Mynes, from Tork manufacturer Essity, looks at ways of speeding up hospital cleaning and hygiene.


The healthcare staffing issue is reaching crisis point. By mid-2026, NHS England Digital was reporting nearly 7,500 vacancies for doctors across the nation. There were also around 21,000 nursing posts left unfulfilled.


The NHS is creaking under the weight of multiple problems. Large numbers of employees left the industry as a result of COVID, and high levels of stress among existing staff members are causing burnouts. The ageing population is also piling on the pressure, leading to too few healthcare workers caring for too many patients. So, something has to give.


Speed is always of the essence in the healthcare sector, particularly at the sharp end in emergency rooms and intensive care units. Medical personnel often need to act promptly to treat accident and trauma victims. Cleaning teams will also be required to work swiftly and efficiently to sanitise all surfaces and clean up any spills.


Bodily fluids will always need to be cleaned away rapidly to prevent any potential spread of infections and viruses, while all surfaces should be wiped down immediately after contamination by an infectious patient. However, speed must always be balanced with efficacy in the healthcare sector, because infection control should never be compromised.


Scrupulous hand hygiene is widely regarded to be a pivotal step in reducing the risk of cross-contamination. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), staff need to routinely perform hand hygiene before touching a patient, before carrying out any aseptic procedure, after any exposure to body fluid, after touching a patient and after touching the patient’s surroundings.


The WHO also states that a healthcare worker’s visibly-soiled hands should be washed with soap and water for between 40 and 60 seconds, and then thoroughly dried to ensure a complete clean. If the hands are not visibly soiled, an alcohol gel may be used instead for a period of 20-30 seconds.


So, surface cleaning in the healthcare sector should be meticulous and hand hygiene must be thorough, but how does a shrinking body of staff manage to achieve these goals without cutting any corners? When healthcare staff are working long shifts and looking after multiple patients, do they actually have the time to wash or sanitise their hands for up to a minute? Can the process be sped up in any way?


Hand hygiene can never be skimped, according to the WHO. However, efforts can be made to make the process easier and more convenient for healthcare workers.


For example, hand washing and sanitising products can be placed in prominent positions on walking routes, and all dispensers for soap and paper should be quick and easy to use. They should also be kept well stocked at all times and should be easy to refill to speed up the cleaner’s work.


32 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING


Soap and paper towel dispensers should have a high capacity and be effortless to use to provide everyone with quick and easy access to the soap inside. For example, the dispenser for Tork Foam Soap requires a particularly low push force and each cartridge serves up to 1,650 people to ensure a long-lasting supply. Replacement cartridges can be snapped into place in seconds, speeding up the process for the cleaner.


The Tork Matic Hand Towel Roll Dispenser offers reliable, one-at-a-time towel dispensing to support hygiene and help reduce waste in busy healthcare environments. Long-lasting rolls and quick refilling help reduce maintenance and the risk of run-outs, while an automatic sensor dispenser option is available for touch-free hand drying.


The hand hygiene process becomes slow and inefficient when washing and drying products are unavailable because the dispensers have been allowed to run out. Staff members will then have to waste time hunting around for a soap and hand towel supply before they can continue their work.


Digital systems such as Tork Vision Cleaning are becoming increasingly popular in hospitals, where they are helping to improve cleaning efficiency.


Tork Vision Cleaning uses people-counters and connected dispensers to provide real-time data on cleaning requirements. This allows healthcare teams to stay ahead of the game and use a smartphone, tablet or computer to remotely check on which dispensers are running low, and which washroom cubicles are receiving high levels of traffic. They can then anticipate situations in which enhanced cleaning or extra checks might be required, acting swiftly where an issue is detected.


According to WHO guidelines, hand washing may be replaced with sanitising in situations where the hands are not visibly soiled, and where there is no time to wash or where soap and water supplies are not available. Tork Alcohol Hand Sanitisers are available in a range of formats designed to be convenient to use for the medical worker.


Studies have shown that the number of sanitiser dispensers supplied is less important than where they're positioned. According to one study, optimising dispenser placement can increase usage by more than 50%, whereas simply increasing the number of dispensers has a much lower impact on usage. Tork has issued a guide to optimum sanitiser dispenser placement at hospital entrances, at nurses’ stations, in a single bed room and on a four-bed ward.


Surface cleaning is also vitally important in any healthcare setting, but cleaners will work more quickly and effectively if they have been taught how to sanitise all patient areas in the most logical and hygienic way possible. They should understand the order in which surfaces should be cleaned,


x.com/TomoCleaning


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