NHS deep cleans ‘waste of money’
February 1st 2008 The CSSA and its members fear the government’s initiative to ‘deep clean’ hospital wards will be an expensive waste if the frequency of day-to-day cleaning isn’t stepped up.
“Unless there’s sustained funding of day-to-day hospital cleaning, then these deep cleans will prove to be a £50million flash in the pan,” says CSSA director general, Andrew Large.
While the government has pledged up to £270m per year by 2010-211 to improve infection control, the majority will be spent on medical staff increases rather than cleaning.
The CSSA’s new healthcare taskforce is now working to estimate the cost of introducing a more frequent cleaning regime that would enable lasting improvements and minimise HAIs.
“We believe a substantial proportion of that extra funding should be directed towards increasing cleaning frequencies in hospitals,” says Large.“The NHS Chief Executive will be holding a cleaning Summit in the near future. The CSSA looks forward to playing a full part in that summit, discussing how more frequent cleaning can aid the fight against MRSA, C diff and the other hospital acquired infections.”
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