New national standard to be launched in bid to improve hospital cleanliness

To be known as PAS 5748, the British Standards Institution-backed quality mark aims to provide assurance to the public that risks associated with hospital cleanliness have been fully assessed and nationally-agreed procedures are in place to ensure hospitals are clean and safe.

Its introduction comes as the result of a joint research and development programme by the Department of Health, the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the AHCP. It will be a consensus-based specification for planning, measuring and improving cleanliness services in NHS hospitals in England, covering:

• Risk assessment and categorisation of functional areas and elements within hospitals
• Identification and implementation of cleaning tasks needed to achieve a specified definition of clean for different elements within hospitals
• The measurement, reporting and improvement of cleanliness

There has to be greater emphasis placed on strengthening central Governmental accountability by having them enforce minimum cleaning frequencies within trusts and for there to be a more verifiable and scientifically-sound assessment system rather than focusing on who provides the cleaning service

Although use of PAS 5748 will not be mandatory, hospitals will be able to use it to provide good practice evidence to the Care Quality Commission that nationally-agreed procedures are in place to prove premises are clean and safe for patients. It is expected to be adopted for use by most NHS trusts as well as other healthcare providers including GP surgeries, clinics and nursing and care homes.

An AHCP spokesman said: "PAS 5748 will be a major milestone along the road to clean, safe hospitals and healthcare environments. It represents the culmination of a process to identify and standardise healthcare cleaning processes and procedures which started a decade ago with the publication of the first National Standards of Cleanliness in 2001 and the first edition of the Healthcare Cleaning Manual in 2003."

PAS 5748 will be a major milestone along the road to clean, safe hospitals and healthcare environments

Mike Low, director of standards at BSI, added: "We are delighted to be able to bring our experience of developing standards in the field of healthcare and risk management to bear on this important new standard for healthcare cleanliness. Our robust and well-established standards-making process, the assembled expert steering group and public consultation have ensured the development of a consensus-driven document which those responsible for healthcare cleanliness can implement on the ward."

The launch follows a study by the Care Quality Commission last year, which revealed that approximately a quarter of trusts were failing to meet core standards on hygiene and therefore compounding the risk of healthcare acquired infections such as MRSA and C. difficile. At the time, Andrew Large, chief executive of the Cleaning and Support Services Association, said: "The CSSA remains concerned that cleaning is not taken sufficiently seriously by the board and management of some NHS trusts. There has to be greater emphasis placed on strengthening central Governmental accountability by having them enforce minimum cleaning frequencies within trusts and for there to be a more verifiable and scientifically-sound assessment system rather than focusing on who provides the cleaning service.