Sue Ryder has become one of the first healthcare providers in England to use the recently-launched NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service to meet the new official cleaning standard.
The service has completed bespoke training for Sue Ryder cleaning staff and follow-up audits of all its premises.
The charity, which runs hospices and specialist neurological care centres across the country, brought in the NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service in order to ensure that staff, patients, and visitors feel reassured with the extra layer of cleaning protocols in light of the Coronavirus pandemic.
The service trained the hospice and neurological care centre staff in Cleaning the NHS Way, the first-ever programme for domestic cleaning to be accredited by the Royal Society for Public Health.
The training programme is delivered by NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service founders, NTH Solutions, an NHS wholly-owned facilities management company and subsidiary of North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust.
Cleaning is such a fundamental step in protecting ourselves against diseases and we had a lot of knowledge at our disposal to help the people around us
NTH Solutions worked in partnership with its infrastructure delivery partner, Tutum Health, to provide the service.
On top of training, each hospice and neurological care centre was audited by the NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service, and offered additional guidance and assurance on cleaning protocols, as well as certification for all cleaning staff in attendance. /
Ian Peri, head of health, safety, estates and environment, who managed the rollout of the service across Sue Ryder, said: “Receiving accredited training and onsite support for our staff from the NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service has gone a long way in ensuring that sense of security for both our staff and our patients.”
Mike Worden, managing director of the NHS Deep Cleaning and Advisory Service, adds: “When our service was developed a year ago, our aim was to bring confidence to our community colleagues so they could feel safer in their environments.
“We started very locally, just education trusts and local businesses, to help people deal with the pandemic.
“Cleaning is such a fundamental step in protecting ourselves against diseases and we had a lot of knowledge at our disposal to help the people around us.
Partnerships such as this one with Sue Ryder provide the public with all of the experience and expertise in the NHS standard of cleanliness, as well as the reassurance we were giving to the doctors and patients at the height of the first wave in our hospital that it was a COVID-safe environment
“We also wanted to take off pressure from our local hospital in Stockton as it managed a growing number of COVID patients. We then began to expand our service and provide support on a wider geographic scale and, a year later, it’s incredible that we’re helping to protect communities and vulnerable people all over the country.
“Partnerships such as this one with Sue Ryder provide the public with all of the experience and expertise in the NHS standard of cleanliness, as well as the reassurance we were giving to the doctors and patients at the height of the first wave in our hospital that it was a COVID-safe environment.
“Improving our public cleaning is key, not only for coming out of the pandemic; but for reducing the risk of another pandemic in the future.”
