How a deep clean can help ease the winter pressures

This rise in flu cases has been caused by four separate strains all circulating at the same time, including a B strain which hasn’t caused severe illness in the past, but seems to be this winter season. With this many extra people flooding hospitals and GP surgeries, infection control is more important than ever to prevent the spread of infection from patient to patient and daily cleaning routines are not always enough.

Flu viruses can live for hours on hard surfaces so infection control plays a vital role in helping to reduce the number of cases and stop it spreading like wildfire through healthcare institutions.

But it’s not just flu that causes winter pressures – all kinds of bugs can lead to the spread of illnesses including norovirus, MRSA and C-Difficile – which can pass through hospitals and healthcare institutions at an alarming rate once established.

Cleaning levels in hospitals

Back in 2015 a study of hospital cleaning found that regular hospital cleaning often does not combat superbugs and housekeepers who are under pressure to get rooms ready quickly, were not being as thorough as they should be.

When this is combined with how many bugs are now resistant to antibiotics, it adds up to one big infection control problem for hospitals – particularly if you combine it with the overall increase in illness cases because of the winter season.

How does deep cleaning help?

Rather than just cleaning surfaces after a patient leaves, ready for the next one to come in, the healthcare cleanliness report showed that the most effective cleaning strategy for hospital rooms was deep cleaning.

The report showed that deep cleaning was far more effective, catching all of the doors, drawers, machines, and every surface of the room – helping to reduce the risk of infection by 30 per cent more than a regular clean.

What about GP surgeries?

But it’s not just hospitals which have to deal with potential infectious outbreaks and winter pressures – for many people, their GP is their first port of call when they start to come down with flu symptoms.

Staff need to step up infection control processes with extra Personal Protective Equipment such as masks and aprons, segregating flu and non-flu patients, and regular cleaning processes need to be stepped up.  Deep cleaning a GP surgery can help to keep the waiting areas and treat rooms free from germs and prevent people coming in from going away sicker than before.

Deep cleaning for Care Homes

Winter pressures and infection outbreaks can also have a large impact on the very vulnerable patients within care homes. Visitors coming in with flu, could end up causing massive issues for residents, which is why regular deep cleans are vital to help reduce the health problems which come with the winter season.

While healthcare institutions are the obvious place where the winter pressures are felt the most, people becoming sick with flu has a huge ripple effect out to the wider business and the economy. People taking time off sick from work costs businesses money and adds pressure to the rest of the workforce.

Deep cleans in hospitals, GP surgeries and care homes can help prevent sickness from spreading amongst vulnerable patients, and from person to person in the community.

A regular deep clean rids the venue of regular germs as well as potential superbugs, helping to support healthcare organisations to look after their patients, and preventing the spread of infection in the community.

If you would like to discuss our deep clean services from Moores Cleaning, please don’t hesitate to call our team today.