Deep clean programme

Hospitals across England are undergoing an aggressive programme of intensive deep cleaning, resulting in a more hygienic, brighter, cleaner environment for users and making it easier to clean in future. Deep cleaning is just one element of a wider range of measures to reduce healthcare associated infections which also include:

• matrons and clinical directors reporting every quarter directly to trust boards on infection control and cleanliness

• new clinical guidance to increase the use of isolation for patients who are infected with meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile (C.difficile)

• a new legal requirement placed on all chief executives to report all MRSA and C.difficile infections to the Health Protection Agency.

In November 2007, it was announced that the national NHS deep clean hospital programme had been allocated £50 million. All trusts have submitted detailed deep clean plans to their PCTs and SHAs and the projected completion date for the programme is March 2008.

NHS EAST MIDLANDS

On 17 January 2008, of 18 organisations, all had started their deep cleans and aim to be complete by 31 March 2008.