What is this PAS about?
It provides a framework for the planning, application and measurement of cleanliness in hospitals.
Who is this PAS for?
It’s intended for those whose responsibilities directly or indirectly include the provision of a clean, safe environment for patient care, including:
- Chairs and non-executive directors
- Chief executives
- Estates and facilities directors
- Directors of infection prevention and control
- Directors of nursing, lead nurses or matrons
- Directors in charge of finance, governance, performance and related audit
- Directors of commissioning and commissioning organizations
The PAS is intended to be endorsed at board level and implemented by anyone responsible for maintaining cleanliness in hospitals including:
- Dedicated cleaning staff
- Cleaning contractors
- Nursing and departmental staff
- Facilities management staff
Why should you use this PAS?
The provision of a clean and safe healthcare environment remains a key priority for all healthcare organizations. It provides one of the key elements for effective infection prevention and control and also promotes patient confidence and demonstrates the existence of a positive safety culture. To help attain such an environment this PAS specifies requirements for:
- Governance of cleanliness services
- Assessing the risk of a lack of cleanliness both for infection and for damage to patient, public or staff confidence
- Providing cleaning tasks
- Measuring cleanliness on the basis of visual inspection – including setting agreed performance levels
- Taking corrective action
- Conducting performance analysis and implementing improvement actions
- Providing a continuous service improvement plan
- Reporting cleanliness outcomes