Cleaning is one of those thankless jobs that is only ever noticed if not done it well.
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But Launceston General Hospital’s cleaners have been noticed – for their exemplary work.
When the hospital’s general accreditation from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards was announced, the cleaners were singled as being responsible for the “cleanest hospital in Australia”.
Launceston General Hospital has a cleaning staff of 70 full time equivalent employees, which are supervised by the House Services deputy manager Colleen Horton and manager David Webb.
More than half of those employees have been with the hospital long term, Ms Horton said.
“Our longest serving person has been here 40+ years and I’ve been here 32, so cleaning has been my responsibility at the hospital for 31 years,” she said.
“I started as the training supervisor and commenced training the staff how to clean to meet best standards and best practice 31 years ago. My role has diversified a little bit, but one of my core responsibilities is the cleaning of the hospital.”
Over time cleaning practices have evolved and equipment has changed to ensure best practice is met.
This includes using automated services or installing helpful tools, like bin lifters, but not at the expense of human jobs.
“We’ve introduced a lot of equipment over the years to reduce the manual handling risk to staff to reduce time off work from injuries and shoulder and back strains,” Mr Webb said.
“We have a very low rate of workplace injuries, and we pride ourselves on that. At the moment we have nobody with a workplace injury and we strive for that,” Ms Horton said.
Cleaners work a variety of shifts between 6am and midnight on weekdays and between 6am and 3pm at weekends to ensure the hospital meets cleanliness standards at all times.
The title of the cleanest hospital in the country came to Launceston when the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards was surveying for quality and safety accreditation.
“During the summation they said that this was, without a doubt, the cleanest hospital in Australia,” Ms Horton said.
“After the summation [the cleaners] had doctors, pharmacists and senior management all going up to them and congratulating them, so that was a real lift to their morale,” Mr Webb said.
Meeting accreditation is a rigorous, ongoing process, with the hospital required to provide documentation and physical proof to show it meets the national standards.
“There’s a set criteria to how things should be cleaned, which chemicals you use and we’re also accredited on being eco-friendly. We recycle as much of the waste as we can recycle and we use very low density cleaning products,” Ms Horton said.
Mr Webb said the standards covered the way the hospital staff cleaned and how they provided evidence those standards were being met.
“We do cleaning audits where the supervisor goes around using a blue fluoro gel marker and a torch. If the blue fluoro gel hasn’t disappeared after the cleaners have been through, that’s a failure,” he said.
“We audit about 180 rooms a month and we also do visual audits and they can be 150+ a month.”
All audit results, from dust on window sills to unclean toilets, are documented and reported back to staff so they can continually improve.
And there is always more to be done.
“Even though we achieved what we achieved with this accreditation, on the next day we started working towards our next accreditation in three years to become just as good as, or better than,” Ms Horton said.
Health Minister Michael Ferguson said the hospital’s accreditation was “a big deal” for staff, especially the cleaning staff because they received special mention.
“I think it’s great news and congratulations to everybody involved, but especially our cleaners, who need to take a special honour,” Mr Ferguson said.
“This hospital has been declared the cleanest hospital in Australia, so thank to everybody who’s been a part of that. Hold your heads up high, you’re providing a wonderful service and we greatly appreciate it.”
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