In April, NHS England/Improvement [NHSE/I] published an updated National Standard for Cleanliness in Healthcare. The Standard is a collection of advice and recommendations compiled by a panel of industry experts designed to ensure all NHS Trusts and hospitals in England maintain a high level of cleanliness. NTH Solutions, an NHS subsidiary for North Tees & Hartlepool Foundation Trust, is launching a national compliance service designed to help a range of organisations implement the new Standard.
The updated Standard comes in the wake of a global pandemic and a period of unprecedented strain upon the NHS so it is perhaps unsurprising that the new Standard brings over fifty pages of regulation and major changes to the way we view cleanliness in our healthcare settings.
Most noticeably for patients, the 2021 Standard has set out a mandatory requirement (backed by the Care Quality Commission) that all sites must display a star rating for cleanliness, in a similar format to the certificates issued under the Food Hygiene Standard. These certificates (with star ratings generated by thorough, regular audits) are to be displayed for public viewing alongside a Commitment to Cleanliness Charter, which lays out the specific procedures in place on site to ensure public confidence and patient safety. These Charters have to be submitted to NHSE/I by April 2022 or sites will have to explain the cause of delay, in writing, to NHSE/I.
The Standard goes into much more detail than previous iterations regarding the level of detail it expects to see from cleaning specifications across all sites. Every room will need its own Functional Risk Categorisation, with an inventory of cleaning elements and frequencies linked to that categorisation. NHSE/I also wants to see evidence of collaborative cleaning, with staff groups such as estates, clinical teams and administrators assisting domestic staff in keeping their facilities clean.
The biggest change however is the range of organisations that are now obliged to meet the Standard. Previously, the Standard was mandatory for hospitals and Trusts and advisory for everyone else as a public document. However, the new Standard clearly states that the requirements it sets out are mandatory for all primary care. To be clear, primary care encompasses any site where a patient has first contact with the health system. This includes GP surgeries, dentists, opticians, mental health units and pharmacies, but it also covers other public settings where medical treatment might be required. Public buildings with treatment rooms, such as police stations and prisons for example, will be affected. This Standard throws out a much wider net than previous versions, and with compliance required by April 2022, it is expected that many organisations will be scrambling to wrap their heads around the new regulations in time.
With cleanliness in public spaces being a top priority for both the industry and the public, the new Standard will provide patients, staff and visitors with added confidence in their healthcare facilities. The provision of a star rating will give people the ability to check their local providers’ cleanliness display and take a closer look at what measures are in place to ensure cleanliness standards remain high. The UK has no national standard for cleanliness, resulting in a wide range of cleanliness levels across our shared spaces. The NHS provides a baseline that the public can trust – we know what we expect to see in terms of cleanliness when we visit our local hospital, so it will be reassuring to know that our local doctor, dentist or chemist will now be matching the hospital step for step. Another important benefit will be that an increased level of cleanliness in primary care may well lead to less community infections and therefore lower the numbers of admissions to hospitals.
The deadline for compliance is April 2022 with an additional 6-month implementation period, however many sites will want to be ahead of the curve. NTH Solutions, an innovative NHS subsidiary, has launched a Compliance Service aimed at assisting all organisations across the UK to meet the new Standard. With regulations governing a site’s cleaning specification, audit schedule and star rating display, sites will be guaranteed a comprehensive solution following a single, one-day support visit. NTH Solutions will then maintain a site’s audit schedule, offering interventional support if needed, and providing enhanced support in the event of a CQC inspection.
Graeme Kelly, Director of Decontamination Services is the man responsible for the creation of the service, and hopeful about the implications of the new Standard:
“As an NHS subsidiary with a focus on decontamination, we are already immersed in these Standards, but we appreciate that it is a lot to get your head around, especially in small settings with time constraints and tight budgets. We recognise that every setting will have its own unique requirements so we’ve designed the service as a support tool tailored to the individual needs of any site to become compliant and we’re excited to work with as many people as we can to get everyone over the line in plenty of time.”
NTH Solutions is a supportive service provider and as part of its portfolio offers deep cleaning and training in the NHS Standard to domestics across all sectors. During the pandemic, their services focused on schools and care homes to bolster procedures in these key areas but the larger goal is to establish a national UK standard of cleanliness modelled on the NHS standard. The requirements for primary care set out in the 2021 Standard do represent a big step forward in this regard, providing a challenge for providers that NTH Solutions is now uniquely positioned to support.
Graeme is hosting a webinar on 16th September to set out the details of the Compliance Service and explain how it can help any site concerned about the changes. All interested organisations are invited to attend and can book their place at https://nthsolutions.co.uk/services/compliance-solutions/ or contact NTH Solutions on 01642 383759.
