We knew from Day 1 that the star ratings introduced in the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2021 (NSoHC 2021) would be the most eye-catching aspect of compliance, and there’s certainly been a lot of attention centred on this particular element of the process. The way I describe it in the webinar is to liken it to the Food Hygiene Standards Agency and the star rating certificates you see in restaurants and takeaways up and down the country.
Speaking for myself and my family, we take those certificates quite seriously, and it certainly plays a part in our choice of vendor, but I didn’t question why until I became involved with the NSoHC 2021. Why do I put such weight behind that certificate? It comes down to several assumptions. First, I trust the Food Hygiene Standards Agency implicitly so I don’t need a complicated breakdown of findings to make a judgement. Second, I assume a robust process has been undertaken to arrive at that rating, and the certificate hasn’t just been dreamt up by the vendor. It’s a question of assurance, and I think we all appreciate having that assurance when it comes to how our food is prepared.
But think about it: why can’t we have the same level of assurance in our local GP surgery that we do in our local chippy? Wouldn’t we benefit from knowing how clean our healthcare sites were the moment we walked through the door? The benefits are the same; implicit trust in the NHS logo emblazoned on the star rating certificate, the knowledge that there is a standardised quality auditing procedure backing up each one, and the ability to check all of this through publicly available documents and the displayed Commitment to Cleanliness charter. It’s a big win for patients who are understandably cautious about visiting healthcare settings in the wake of Covid-19, but it’s also a win for those sites who are doing the right thing and maintaining an excellent standard of cleanliness. Why wouldn’t you want to display that to the world? Why wouldn’t you shout about how clean your setting is? The star ratings let us do that in a way that connects healthcare providers with patients in a new, positive win.
