Call for hospital cleaning chiefs

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The British Cleaning Council (BCC), which represents 19 training and trade bodies, called for clearer guidance to help stamp out bugs like MRSA and Clostridium difficile.

The BCC represents hundreds of hospital cleaners, many working on contracts for the NHS.

It said there was widespread confusion over training, budgets and who should take overall responsibility for cleaning standards.

Steve Wright, chairman of BCC, said budget cuts across the NHS had had a "huge impact" on cleaning standards. But better training and better equipment could help things improve.

"Sadly, for too long now, many UK hospitals have been failing to hit the mark in hygiene terms," he said.

"Cleanliness is critical in all healthcare environments and many seem to be lacking the ability to rectify failures. Unless hospitals managers avail themselves of cleaning industry know-how, the hospital cleaning crisis will continue."

The BCC said measures to tackle bugs varied across NHS trusts. For example, the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), which promotes the cleaning industry and runs training, has been using its own cleaning colour coding system for workplaces for many years.

However, the National Patient Safety Agency has recently introduced its own scheme which clashes with existing ones and causes confusion, a spokeswoman for the BCC said.

Mr Wright added: "Hospital cleaning desperately needs to be revolutionised in the same way that school dinners have been. We would like to see a cleaning inspector in every hospital and believe that hospital cleaners be trained by experts in the classroom and on the job. By cleaning up our hospitals we could be saving many from the risk of sickness or infection."