A healthcare cleaning company has launched the UK’s first permanent decontamination cleaning unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, London.

ISS Mediclean, which has over 25 years experience in providing clinical and specialist healthcare cleaning, will use the permanent unit at the Trust as an extension of a rolling programme with all the hospital’s mobile equipment being taken to the unit and deep cleaned regularly. The Queen Elizabeth Hospital will be one of the first in the UK to have addressed the need to minimise the potential of cross infection through the introduction of a planned deep cleaning programme.

Public awareness of ‘superbugs’ has never been so heightened, while media attention and Government directives designed to combat the spread of MRSA and other superbugs have added to the negative perception of cleanliness within the healthcare sector. 

Public expectations demand a proactive approach to deep cleaning and the permanent decontamination cleaning unit is ISS Mediclean’s response to the Governments’ Deep Cleaning Programme.

Simon Cox, MD, ISS Mediclean, commented:

“Ensuring that hospitals are safe and pleasant environments for patients, clinicians and all the other people who need to be there is what we do. Our experience in hospital cleaning meant that we developed a new approach to the need for deep cleaning. The Trust has been incredibly supportive and we are both equally pleased with the impressive results so far.”

The fully self-contained static decontamination unit is fitted with modern technology and equipment to meet any conventional decontamination demands and includes independent water and power supplies; microfibre technology; chlorine based cleaning products; dry steam cleaning machines; and portable ozone decontamination units. Environmental monitoring will be carried out at each stage of the process providing a documented auditable record of decontamination.

The important innovations of the permanent unit follow on from the success of a previous ISS Mediclean initiative, the mobile decontamination unit built into the back of a dedicated vehicle. Mobile units with the same technology as the permanent unit can deliver clinical cleaning to any healthcare facility. Any portable equipment, including beds, furniture, wheelchairs and trolleys can be transported to the facility and cleaned without causing disruption.

The permanent decontamination unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital will allow for the cleaning of up to five beds at a time in a secure clean environment, leaving items not just clean, but clinically clean.