Spring-clean time at our hospitals!

Mar 22 2008 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A £50,000 spring-clean will help refresh all local hospitals.

Work is set to start on an intensive cleaning programme at the Holme Valley Memorial Hospital in Holmfirth.

It is part of a national hospital spring-clean scheme which has seen all local hospitals given a share of £50,000 to carry out the work.

The inside of the Holmfirth hospital will have a major clean, with new soft furnishings in the wards.

The beds, mattresses and bedside equipment will also be thoroughly deep-cleaned, as well as the walls, floors and all equipment.

John Regan, estates manager at Kirklees Primary Care Trust, said the work was extra to the daily cleaning process at the hospital.

He added: “The deep-clean is really important and no expense will be spared in completing this work.

“Anything that cannot be cleaned to an appropriate standard will be replaced by new items.

“We will be deep-cleaning sections of wards at a time and trying to keep the disruption to an absolute minimum.”

The trust, which runs services at the Holmfirth hospital, will oversee the work.

Cleaners will work closely with clinical staff using state-of-the-art cleaning products.

Louise Hodgson, a member of the trust’s infection control project team, said: “The deep- clean is in addition to the regular cleaning that takes place and part of our ongoing programme to tackle infection control.

“If we all work together and play our part we can help stamp out the problem of infection in hospitals.”

All 10 regions of the NHS have been given dedicated money to carry out deep-cleans.

The aim of the programme is to supplement the stringent infection control measures that are already in place by maximising standards of cleanliness and minimising any risk of infection transfer among patients.