Publish date: 11 October 2021
Mersey Care is adopting the NHS National Standards of Cleanliness 2021 – these new standards encourage continuous improvement and allows the NHS nationally the opportunity to measure performance and cleanliness in a uniform way.
The Estates and Facilities Team have been working with Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) and clinical services on the implementation of the new standards, which will take around 12 months to fully roll out from this month.
National Standards of Cleanliness (NSOC) were published earlier this year and apply to all NHS healthcare environments and replace the previous National Specification for Cleanliness in the NHS 2007. There are lots of changes entailed and Mersey Care’s NSOC group are working collaboratively to implement the standards across the Trust.
One of the new requirements is to display a “Commitment to Cleanliness Charter” in all patient facing areas from this month. A display board will have specific details of cleaning regimes and publicises Mersey care’s commitment to achieving a consistently safe and high standard of cleanliness.
Some elements of the standards have flexibility for individual trusts, however certain elements are mandatory across all NHS settings and require implementation within specified time frames.
One of the Estates and Facilities managers involved in the roll-out, Rebecca Caulfield, explained: “As our NSOC group continue to work together on the implementation of the standards there will be other changes and improvements across our sites, including changes to the frequency in which we clean and changes to the way we audit our cleanliness. Later this year we will also begin to display ‘star ratings’ for cleanliness and environment in all our areas.
“The Commitment to Cleanliness Charter and the Star Ratings will provide visible information about the quality of our cleanliness to patients, staff and visitors in a simple and effective way.”
- If you have any queries about the new charter please speak to your local facilities’ staff or site manager.
Below is an example of one of the new charter’s information display boards about our commitment to cleanliness.
