Nurses Appose Contract Cleaning in NHS Hospitals
May 7, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentNurses have voted very much in favour of bringing the cleaning of NHS wards back in-house instead of contract cleaning.
May McCreaddie, from Glasgow, proposed calling on the RCN Council to lobby the Government to halt contract cleaning.
May explains: ‘There has been an increase in hospital infections and a decline in cleanliness. It’s quite simple. We know what works, we have been there, we have had them. They are called ward domestics, they are an integral part of the team.’
Your Toilet Seat May Be Cleaner Than Your Keyboard!
May 1, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, computer cleaning, Contract Cleaning , add a commentAccording to research your computer keyboard can harbour more bacteria than the average toilet seat.
Microbiologists and computer experts have found that office workers could be putting their health at risk, because their keyboards are home to 150 times more bacteria than the recommended limit.
Health experts said many of the bugs could be caused by workers failing to practise essential hygiene routines and eating lunch at PCs is also thought to contribute to the spread of bacteria.
Microbiologist, James Francis who led the investigation said two keyboards he examined under a microscope contained levels of bacteria so high they had to be removed from the office. He also said one carried more bacteria than the average toilet seat and that he had rarely come across anything as filthy.
I feel slightly disturbed by this, sitting here tapping at my keyboard.
Perhaps it’s time to hire a contract cleaning company to clean your office!
Cleaning Staff Guarantee Should Be Brought in to Hospitals, Says Unison
April 15, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentUnison, who represents a range of staff including nurses, cleaners and porters, said hospitals should have 2 cleaners for every 30 patients.
Hospitals should be cleaned from 8am to 9pm to try and fight super-bugs such as MRSA, but the government said cleaning was too complex to have specific quotas.
The union have complained of there being no minimum staffing levels for cleaners or times for the hospital to be cleaned. They also believe that they need to use the whole hospital team if they are going to fight the super-bugs.
Unison’s head of health, Karen Jennings, said: ‘Cleaning staff are frustrated because they know which cleaning products are effective, what equipment they need, how many staff it takes to really clean a ward well, but they are rarely consulted or listened to.’
She continues: ‘It should be a requirement that all NHS organisations have safe minimum staffing levels for their cleaning services that are based on quality, not cost, and with staff receiving proper, up to date training and equipment.’
Contract Cleaning Market Gets New Business Ratio Report
April 7, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News, Contract Cleaning , add a commentThis new Business Ratio Report compares the financial performance of the leaders in this Industry sector, offering a quick and cost-effective competitor analysis tool for senior management.
Ratios are an invaluable tool for comparing the performance of contract cleaning companies. The relative profitability, growth or debt levels, for example, of differently sized companies can be directly measured or compared with ease.
Your Business Ratio Report will focus on the performance of key players in the contract cleaning industry. A Business Ratio report is, in effect, a complete financial reference for the sector.
What can the report be used for?
A Rusiness ratio Report can be used to assess trading and financial information on:
The Contract Cleaning Company’s:
Size
Structure
Performance
The Contract Cleaning Industry’s:
Structure
Major companies
Performance
Promised Hospital Deep Clean Misses Target
March 31, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentThe NHS target to deep clean all the hospitals in England by the end of March is likely to be missed.
Ministers expect 93% of trusts to have completed the process by today (Monday) and the rest have apparently started their cleans and will finish soon.
However, the Tories said it was a shambles as not all the money promised to cover the costs of cleaning has been used correctly.
A total of £60m has been spent on cleaning but the Tories say just £15.6m has gone to hospitals to pay for it.
To add to the criticisms, infection control experts have said that the programme is a gimmick and that it will only have a short-term impact on hospital infections such as MRSA.
Dr Jodi Lindsay, an expert in Infectious diseases: ‘The reason that it’s not going to work is that MRSA is carried by people and as soon as you deep clean a hospital, if you let people back into it again, you’re going to have the same MRSA problem.’
Cleaning firms have said the government should instead have properly funded day-to-day cleaning.
Hospitals Get Major Clean in Bid to Fight Superbugs
March 11, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentTwo UK hospitals are being given a deep clean later this month. The West Kent Primary Care Trust hospitals, will be cleaned as part of the Government’s Deep Clean directive to help fight superbugs.
Livingstone Hospital and Gravesham Community Hospital are the lucky two hospitals that have been chosen. Each clean will last for between three and four days.
The Deep Clean directive has been introduced by the Department of Health to help reduce infections in hospitals across the country.
Chairman of the Patient Public Involvement Forum Diane Steltner has said: ‘Any form of cleaning is always good and a deep clean for a hospital is extra special.’
Takeaways in Dorset Under Threat if They Don’t Start Cleaning Up
March 7, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentTakeaway owners in Bournemouth could have their licenses reviewed if they fail to clean up their premises.
According to the local community between the hours of 12-4am the town is a disgrace with all the litter. The takeaways are supposed to be cleaned up outside every 30 minutes but this doesn’t appear to be the case.
Cllr David Smith, cabinet member for the community says: “I don’t think that’s happening. If they don’t comply, their licences will be reviewed. I want to see this town clean 24 hours a day, not 20.”
Cllr Smith has said he wants licensees to take responsibility for sweeping up the pavement outside their own premises.
Unilever Being Investigated by French Cleaning Authorities
February 27, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentFrench competition authorities are investigating Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser over price-fixing on household cleaning products.
The cleaning product makers are among nine international businesses caught up in a cartel investigation, which examines increases in price that were said to be agreed in 2005.
Unilever, whose brands include Cif cream cleaner and Domestos bleach, confirmed that it was co-operating with the French authorities over the investigation that began last year.
It is thought that SC Johnson, the US maker of Pledge furniture polish and Glade air fresheners, tipped of the French Authorities, according to Le Figaro newspaper.
If they’re found guilty, the companies risk fines of up to 10 per cent of their global sales.
PM Promises a £50m Deep Clean for Hospitals, But is it an Empty Gesture?
January 15, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentCleaning contractors are concerned that Gordon Brown’s policy to spend £50m on deep cleaning hospitals, will be an “empty gesture”.
At a Labour conference in September the Prime Minister promised that all hospitals would undergo a deep clean, that would see hospitals as clean as the day they were new.
This is to be put in place in the fight against superbugs like MRSA.
Andrew Large of The Cleaning and Support Services Association (CSSA) said: ”These deep cleans will be an empty gesture unless they are backed up with long-term investment in cleaning”.
He continues: “We will not make any progress in the fight against infections like MRSA, if we do these deep cleans and then let the situation go back to what it was. It will have been a futile exercise.”
The 1,500 hospitals in England have until the end of March to complete the deep clean programme.
Bosch in Trouble Over Dishwasher Claims!
January 3, 2008 Posted by Administrator in : News , add a commentA recent Bosch dishwasher advert has been taken off the TV because it implied their machine always used less water than washing up by hand.
A voiceover said: ‘Did you know that washing up by hand uses up to three times more water than if you used a fully loaded Bosch dishwasher?’
The advert was not entirely accurate and Bosch was forced to stop the TV advert being shown in it’s current form.
The commercial did not make clear that in some cases washing up by hand could be more water-efficient than using a dishwasher, said the Advertising Standards Authority.
So it seems Bosch did not do their research properly, the research that was done, only used small samples and wasn’t enough to back up Bosch’s claims.
Watchdog said that in general, AAA-rated electric dishwashers used less water than washing up by hand, when the tap was left running.
But Bosch had not made this clear in the commercial and it’s implication was that it’s fully loaded dishwashers, always used less water than washing up manually.