Time to get tough on healthcare cleaning
October 1st 2004

Current estimates suggest that 100 000 people a year pick up some form of infection while in hospital.

The cost of hospital-acquired infections is high – estimated at around £1 billion per year, says Bill Summers, Kaivac UK.This rapid rise further highlights the importance of maintaining cleanliness and hygiene within healthcare facilities, for the protection of both patients and staff.

It can be tough however, maintaining hygiene levels in hospitals.With many operating 24 hours round the clock, deep-seated soil and bacteria can quickly build-up and spread to areas such as washrooms, stairwells, corridors, and even operating rooms.

Tightening of cleaning budgets has only exacerbated these problems with many cleaners struggling with outdated cleaning equipment such as wipers, buckets,mop heads, and cleaning supplies that are simply inadequate for today’s modern cleaning challenges.Not only do most mop buckets contain dirty, contaminated water; their use just spreads soil around without removing it from tight spaces, leaving a ‘ring around the bathroom’ and a breeding ground for bacteria.

However, a new generation of multi-tool cleaning machines combining several cleaning tools in one single unit, such as a pressure washer, chemical injection and wet /dry vacuum can allow cleaners to tackle a wide range of jobs in one go, and enable more thorough, deep cleaning of surfaces.

Manufacturer’s such as Kaivac are developing these types of cleaning units. Its ‘No-Touch Cleaning’ technology, which includes the KaiVac and KaiZen systems are particularly effective in healthcare applications enabling cleaners to swiftly blast away disease-causing bacteria as well as bio-hazardous soils completely.

The systems also ensure cleaners never have to touch soiled or contaminated surfaces, reducing the risk of cross contamination, critical in healthcare applications.

Multi-tool units also guarantee greater versatility with many including tools such as spray guns and hoses to reach hard to get to places. For larger premises multi-tool units can provide invaluable time-savings over the course of the day as cleaners only require one trip to the cleaners’ cupboard. Storage is also improved.With all the tools now contained in one unit, problems of having to store several items of cleaning equipment into one tight space, is no longer an issue.

Only deep cleaning of high traffic areas can prevent the rapid build up of soils and bacteria with tools such as the Multi-tool ‘No Touch Cleaning’ technologies can do the job.With individual healthcare facilities becoming more accountable for maintaining the highest levels of cleanliness and hygiene, sensible investment in such technologies can help them win the battle of healthcare cleaning.

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