Cleaning at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Cleaning at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital Chelsea and Westminster was the first teaching hospital in the UK to use the micro-fibre cleaning system (2004). If the fibres in a micro-fibre cloth were laid out it would be the size of a football pitch. The fibres attract and hold dust by static electricity. Studies have demonstrated that micro-fibre cleaning clothes are far superior to any other type of cleaning clothes in removing dust & dirt. We use micro-fibre cleaning systems across all our wards. Bleach destroys the micro-fibres so when we need to clean a contaminated area, for example in an outbreak, we use bleach and an ordinary cloth. The cloths are used by folding the cloth into quarters and using one quarter to clean a geographical area e.g. a patients bed, then folding again and cleaning another area e.g. a patients locker, and so on, until every surface of the cloth has been used. The cloth is then put into the dirty linen basket and another cloth is used to continue cleaning in the same manner. This ensures that bacteria is not spread from area to area minimising cross infection. The cloths are laundered on a daily basis in a strictly controlled laundry system

How it works What is Microfibre? Microfibre is a recently developed technique of making ‘cloth’ by crocheting together fibres that have been split to make them only 1/100 th thickness of a strand of human hair. This means that they are smaller than most bacteria and dust particles. These tiny fibres are crocheted in loops that work by trapping the dust, etc. within the ‘cloth’. Microfibre cloths and mops are more efficient in the removal of dirt and dust. By trapping the particles within the fibres they are removed from the surface rather than moved around and deposited elsewhere. These particles are then held within the ‘cloth’ until they are released in the laundering process. When used dry, dirt and bacteria are attracted to the fibres by static electricity When used damp, dirt and bacteria are drawn up by the capillary action

What is Microfibre? Clean microfibres Dirty microfibres. Static electricity ensures that the dirt stays on the fibres, only being released in the laundering process

Why can’t you routinely smell disinfectants when you walk into Chelsea and Westminster Hospital? Disinfectants are not routinely used for cleaning in hospitals. This is to minimise the risk of the bacteria in the hospital becoming resistant to the disinfectants that we use. Disinfectants are only used for cleaning the environment where patients are know to have diarrhoea and when there are outbreaks of infection.

Why disinfectants are not routinely used in hospitals to clean the wards: Cleaning can remove 80% contamination on a floor Disinfection can remove 95% of contamination on a floor An hour later, both surfaces are back to their former contamination levels Environmental disinfection is useful in cleaning of a contaminated isolation room or closed ward, but has a limited role in any day-to-day ward cleaning regime.

Cleaning at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital ISS Mediclean are our current cleaning contractors. The hospital and the contractors work very closely together to ensure a high standard of cleaning across the hospital. Refer to our PEAT cleanliness scores to see how effective we are in keeping the hospital clean