IT to be included in hospital 'deep cleans'

06 Nov 2007

IT and telephone equipment have been included in the Department of Health’s list of items be subjected to a rigorous cleansing, when all trusts are given a ‘deep clean’ to tackle infections such as MRSA and c. difficile.

Every hospital in Britain is to undergo a ward-by-ward ‘deep clean’ within the next year to rid them of superbugs such as c. difficile, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced at the Labour Party conference in September.

“Over the next year, for the first time, every hospital will receive a ‘deep clean’ designed to return our hospitals to the state they were in when they were built. A ward at a time, walls, ceilings, fittings and ventilation shafts will be disinfected and scrubbed clean,” he said.

The NHS has now published guidance on what may be included in a deep clean, including cleaning of telephones and IT equipment, as well as dismantling and cleaning beds and bedrails, ultrasonic cleaning and de-cluttering.

Strategic health authorities will be responsible for finalising deep clean plans and the DH advises: “SHA estates and facilities advisors can help PCT and SHAs to commission deep cleans that meet the needs of the site and deliver tangible outcomes by year-end.

“In some instances it may be more appropriate to replace items that cannot be satisfactorily cleaned, or to replace damaged finishes to make subsequent cleaning easier. Some trusts may wish to use the fund to invest in equipment in this context, in addition to the cleaning of equipment where it need not be replaced.”

Deep cleaning funding is going out to trusts from this month. They will be given a £350,000 grant to carry out a deep clean, which will include the purchase of decontamination equipment such as ultrasound cleaners for wheelchairs and commodes.

Health secretary, Alan Johnson, said: “To help staff continue to improve hygiene, Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells will be one of the first trusts to receive funding under the deep clean programme I announced last month. This is part of a wider range of measures that all trusts need to take to tackle healthcare acquired infections and ensure patient safety.

“We have already had a lot of success in reducing the incidence of MRSA," he said. "We have a target of reducing it by 50% - I want to get it down to zero. There are hospitals who manage that, and I think deep clean will make an important contribution.”

The DH advises: “The money can be spent in any hospital setting but priority should be given to areas where an impact on healthcare associated infections or on patient and public confidence can be clearly demonstrated. This is revenue funding which, under normal finance rules, can include non-capitalised equipment purchases.”

Reader's Comments

problem ignored, wrong department

09 Nov 07 09:28

Three years ago, I washed my hands on a critical unit in front of infection control staff, rubbed one hand on an Apgar plate, then the other on the PC dustball on the nurses desk and then onto an Apgar plate. the results were horrif, the dusty hand grew massive colonies of every major pathogen, the other was deemed safe.

The result?

Wrong department responsibility, the cleaners do not clean IT equipment and the nurses don't clean hardware. No result. official comment from the micro-biologist -"you've got it all wrong -MRSA does not spread like that" 2 weeks later 4 patients had the same strain and we (The Registrar and I) repeated the experiment from the ventilator touch control panel. We were reprimanded for wasting lab time.

Theres none so blind as cannot see!

Footnote: Infection control staff resigned 6 months later over a C-Diff scandal.

Do keyboards kill people?

09 Nov 07 12:09

An interesting debate but if mice and keyboards and computers are such an increased hazard as a source of infection how come there isn't a huge increase in C/Dif and MRSA amongst computer workers? What about books, pens, calculators, desks...the list is almost endless. How are we going to clean the clinical notes? Germs have been around for ever and suddenly its a problem? In my view looking at IT equipment and other office equipment sources is a side issue. What you need to make sure is that you wash your hands every time prior to touching the patient. Also clean the ward areas properly (and that means manage private cleaning contracts and put less pressure on the cleaners). Make sure that what the patient touches is at least clean.

Has anyone done a study of the the move toward private cleaning contracts in the NHS and infection rates? I'm sure you will save more lives looking in that direction.

My final point is that visitors expect much more access to their relatives these days. These visitors don't follow hygiene good practice in many cases, again a major source of cross infection. Patient choice and more client friendly wards may be good but what about its affect on infection?

I'm sure its theoretically possible to get a cross infection from a keyboard, but there are much bigger fish to fry. This has the tinge of Government sound bite and looking like you are doing something. Its pointless getting hospitals 'back to the way they were when new' if you then have a poor cleaning contract which lets it get back into a mess in two or three days.

Douglas Adams anyone?

nhstechie@btinternet.com

09 Nov 07 21:42

Am I the only person to see the Douglas Adams link here?

All the useless people (including telephone and presumably keyboard disinfection operatives) were forcibly emigrated off-planet to make room for more productive members of society - only for the remaining populace to die of an infection spread through dirty telephone handsets.

Seriously though, I've replaced keyboards in HDUs which were so filthy they were thrown in a skip after disinfection. I would recommend to staff that they disinfect and change gloves everytime they use a computer or phone in those conditions.

Do keyboards kill people?

12 Nov 07 17:01

They do if you apply them to the user correctly and repeatedly.....

Do keyboards kill people?

22 Nov 07 14:32

If door handles are a known source of cross contamination (and they are) then why not keyboards and other hardware (such as mice)?

This is clinical common sense - and it is possible to source keyboards and other devices that can be cleaned more effectively for the hospital environment.

I seemed to be the only one in IT who used alcoholic hand rub on entering (and LEAVING clinical areas) in the last trust I worked - but then I also have a clinical background as well and probably more appreciative (no offence to non-clinical staff) of cross infection.

I did suggest that some of us who "popped into the ward on their way home" may well be taking something home to a sick relative or spreading it around the rest of the trust on their travels. Needless to say that some of them now also follow the trust policy more closely.