Cleaning up our act

The new specification, expected to be published after the general election, will assist in the provision of cleanliness in support of infection prevention and improved patient, public and staff confidence. PAS 5748 (Publicly Available Specification) will specify requirements for the provision of cleanliness in acute, community and mental health hospitals.

The aim is that it will include requirements for the:

• definition and assignation of cleanliness responsibilities and accountabilities
• risk assessment and categorisation of functional areas and elements within hospitals
• identification and implementation of cleaning tasks needed to achieve a specified definition of clean for different elements within hospitals
• the measurement, reporting and improvement of cleanliness.

PAS 5748 is intended to be endorsed at board level, and implemented by those employed to maintain cleanliness in hospitals including dedicated cleaning staff, nursing and departmental staff and facilities management staff.
    
It is initially intended to be used within acute, community and mental health hospitals across the NHS in England though it will be developed, through open consultation, in such a way as to permit wider application in future editions. Any decision to further develop the PAS into a British Standard will require input from public and independent healthcare providers across the UK.

Driving progress
Health Minister, Ann Keen said: “The delivery of clean, safe, care is a priority for this government. The NHS has made great strides in improving cleanliness in hospitals, which is important for both patients and staff. This specification will drive further progress in this area and so we are delighted to be working with our partners and stakeholders in developing it”.
    
Dr Kevin Cleary, medical director at the National Patient Safety Agency, said: “We are very pleased to be working on the development of a new standard in cleanliness which is applicable to providers of NHS care in England to ensure that patient safety is right at the heart of hospital care. The standard provides a framework for a risk-based and continual improvement approach to cleanliness, within which providers of NHS care will make localised decisions to ensure exemplary patient safety.”
    
Mike Low, director, Standards, BSI, said: “BSI is delighted to be able to bring its experience of developing standards in the field of healthcare and risk management to bear on this important new standard for healthcare cleanliness. BSI’s robust and well-established standards-making process, the assembled expert Steering Group and public consultation period will ensure the development of a consensus driven document which those responsible for healthcare cleanliness can implement on the ward.”
    
Accountability
The Cleaning & Support Services Association, also taking part in the development of the standard, made several critiques on the largely unscientific criteria the PAS 5748 proposes for the assessment of cleaning as well as the disproportionate amount of control given to local NHS trusts. Andrew Large, CSSA chief executive, commented: “In order to move towards an effective healthcare cleaning regime there has to be greater emphasis placed on strengthening central governmental accountability by having them enforce minimum cleaning frequencies within Trusts and for there to be a more verifiable and scientifically sound assessment system rather than focusing on who provides the cleaning service.”
    
The development of PAS 5748 included a six-week open consultation, from December last year. Comments will be reviewed by the PAS 5748 Steering Group before updating the standard for publication in May 2010. There will be an opportunity to further comment on the published standard after publication. More details will be made available nearer the time.
    
PAS 5748 Steering Group members include Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals; British Institute of Cleaning Science; Department of Health – Patient Environment; Department of Health – Improvement Team for Infection Prevention and Control; Infection Prevention Society; Health Estates and Facilities Management Association; NHS National Patient Safety Agency; and Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Foundation Trust.
    
A Publicly Available Specification (PAS) is a sponsored fast-track standard driven by the needs of the client organisation/s and developed according to guidelines set out by BSI. Key stakeholders are brought together to collaboratively produce a BSI-endorsed PAS that has all the functionality of a British Standard for the purposes of creating management systems, product benchmarks and codes of practice. After two years the PAS is reviewed and a decision is made as to whether it should be taken forward to become a formal British Standard.

For more information
Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals: www.ahcp.co.uk
British Institute of Cleaning Science: www.bics.org.uk
Department of Health – Patient Environment: www.dh.gov.uk
Department of Health – Improvement Team for Infection Prevention and Control Infection Prevention Society: www.ips.uk.net
Health Estates and Facilities Management Association: www.hefma.org.uk
NHS National Patient Safety Agency: www.npsa.nhs.uk
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health Foundation Trust: www.obmh.nhs.uk