CLEANING & INFECTION CONTROL Top Priority
Chad Grainger, Key Account Manager of Public Services at Kärcher UK, discusses how using the right cleaning method and products can help to alleviate heterogeneous pressures on care home maintenance teams.
Keeping healthcare settings such as care homes clean is a crucial part of patient safety. The importance of the care environment in patient care has become increasingly apparent within the last few years and maintaining the hygiene of a healthcare setting helps prevent infections. The quality of cleaning products and methods available can be varied and, coupled with external pressures such as staffing issues, it can have an indirect impact on patient care and healthcare worker safety.
CLEANING AS PART OF
PATIENT SAFETY There is no doubt that cleaning and disinfecting within care homes helps to prevent outbreaks of infection. There is a wealth of information on products and chemicals that help to eliminate certain types of pathogens. Therefore, it is important that environmental cleaning and decontamination measures are followed to ensure patient safety is not compromised.
However, with media attention highlighting current pressures facing the industry, particularly staffing, it is important to find a way that resolves this pressure without compromising on cleaning delivery. Kärcher recommends the PDIR method, which ensures healthcare facilities are cleaned in a robust and preventative manner that helps to reduce the time needed for intensive deep cleaning. This method allows facilities managers to refocus their efforts on priority areas. The PDIR method focuses on maintaining high cleaning standards in an efficient manner by breaking the cleaning down into four parts: Preventative, Daily, Interim and Restorative.
CLEANING IN A HEALTHCARE SETTING Care homes can be complex and require a varying level of
cleaning dependent on the situation and the product needed. There are five main variables to cleaning within a healthcare setting, relating to two main tasks of removing soil or disinfecting and cleaning on a microbiological level. These elements are based on what product or intervention needs to be applied, the technique and equipment used to apply the product, the type of surface, the level of contamination of the environment, and the cleaning staff themselves. If any one of these elements is lacking or missing, the cleaning will be substandard.
Additional to the above, maintaining a hygienic and safe environment is not only about removing soil or disinfecting areas, it is also about presenting an environment that is
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inviting for patients, helping to instil confidence in their care. Patient perception is paramount for any healthcare facility.
THE RIGHT PRODUCT FOR THE JOB With high footfall settings such as care homes, surfaces can become damaged due to the movement of people and equipment, all of which need to be deep cleaned daily. By utilising the PDIR method the frequency of deep cleans can be reduced, helping to save time, materials, and ease pressure on staff resource.
An example of this is the use of Kärcher’s FloorPro Intensive Deep Cleaner RM 752, an effective cleaning solution that can be used in conjunction with its scrubber dryers to powerfully remove care films, wax and polymer coatings, dirt and grease, allowing facilities managers to recoat the flooring and return it to a ‘like new’ state, preventing them from having to strip the floors back to their original state and recoat them with a new protective layer.
INVESTMENT IN HYGIENE With the current squeeze on healthcare, it makes logical sense that management oſten look to maintenance costs as a first choice to budget cuts, both in the products used and staff.
However, the cost of not investing in cleaning can have an adverse long-term effect on budgets. It is imperative the industry looks beyond upfront costs; as with medicine, prevention is always better and less expensive than a cure.
www.kaercher.com/uk
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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