Environmental Cleaning

Healthcare organisations are complex environments where the provision of care to large numbers of clients results in increased microbial burden and contamination of surfaces and equipment with microorganisms. Contaminated surfaces and equipment may potentially contribute to the transmission of microorganisms and healthcare-associated infection.

Each healthcare organisation must use a risk management framework when considering cleaning of the healthcare environment. The aim of determining risk is to ensure that appropriate controls are implemented in response to various problems that inadequate cleaning can cause.

Policy

The Cleaning of the Healthcare Environment policy identifies the functional areas in healthcare facilities that require cleaning and/or disinfection and outlines the frequencies to achieve the minimum cleaning standard for those areas. It also outlines key performance indicators for measuring cleaning service performance in achieving a uniform approach to environmental cleaning.

It is the responsibility of each local health district to identify all functional areas within each facility and to ensure the cleaning and auditing of those functional areas is in accordance with policy.

Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedure

Healthcare facilities should comply with the Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures, which contain detailed best practice procedures for environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities.

The Standard Operating Procedures are divided into modules that cover processes required to implement a comprehensive environmental cleaning program.

The Environmental Cleaning Standard Operating Procedures are periodically reviewed and updated. Users should check that they have the most recent version.