Are your care home’s LST radiators harbouring bacteria?
It’s essential for care and nursing homes to be easy and efficient to clean as it has to be done so often. Care homes can become quite busy as the staff occupy the residents, care for them and during visiting hours. Part of the staff’s role involves the use of lifting and manoeuvring equipment, transporting users from one room to the next and ensuring that daily activities-like mealtimes are efficiently carried out. Ass care and nursing environments can be busy, the need for resources that are low maintenance is essential. Contour’s DeepClean LST (low surface temperature) radiators and radiator covers provide the ideal solution, they’ve been designed to safely heat your care home whilst requiring little-to-no maintenance. LST radiators and radiator covers Contour’s complete radiator systems come with high-quality Herz Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs) for either internal or external fitting. An external TRV kit is where the TRV head is on the outside of the cover, this allows the staff to adjust and control the temperature of the room themselves without having to remove any covers. To read more about Contour’s TRV options, click here. Cleaning Contour’s LST radiators Having clean surroundings in a care and nursing environment is crucial, especially when residents can have weakened immune systems. Contour’s LST radiators provide full access to the radiator for thorough cleaning. By using a simple quarter turn lock, the one-piece casing can be dropped down to floor level effortlessly. For even more movement and efficiency, Rotarad fittings can be installed with the LST radiator, allowing the radiator itself to be tilted downwards to floor level for a full clean and access to the wall behind the radiator. Efficiency cleaning A thorough clean can take a team of people to achieve results, however easy access to and behind the radiators means it can be achieved efficiently with just one person. When you remove a regular radiator cover for cleaning, you’ll often need to cut the existing sealant away so that you don’t damage the existing paintwork or the wall that it’s sealed up to. In contrast, the DeepClean radiator cover design allows you to remove the top and front of the door for cleaning and maintenance, without the need for removing any screws or sealant from the wall. We estimate that in seven hours, two people can clean fourteen regular radiators, whereas one person can clean eighty-four DeepClean LST radiators in the same amount of time! Conclusion All of our radiators contain BioCote antimicrobial protection incorporated into the paintwork, minimising the spread of harmful bacteria, including MRSA and E.Coli. Maintaining Contour’s radiator and guard range has never been easier. The easy drop down front allows for efficient and effective cleaning. Easy maintenance allows you to focus on the things that are most important in a care facility which is the quality of care and wellness of your residents.
Three Key Tenets of Outstanding Infection Control
Ben Kilbey, Business Development Manager at Spearhead Healthcare, on achieving outstanding infection control procedures in your care home… Every care manager knows that a systematic, structured approach to cleaning is the only way to keep infections at bay and to protect residents and carers effectively – as well as your own reputation. Based on our extensive experience of helping hundreds of care homes like yours implement a best-practice infection control programme, here are our three guiding principles to set you on the right course. 1. Don’t cut corners with products It’s simply not possible to cut corners in infection control especially when it comes to the products you choose. Relying on domestic cleaning products, like furniture polish and bleach, is poor practice in care homes. It’s imperative to use BS EN1276-certified specialist products, like the ones included in our Platinum Plan, which are designed for the care environment and kill bacteria such as MRSA, Salmonella, E.Coli and the flu virus. Daily use of bactericidal and sporicidal cleaning products should be combined with a monthly deep clean, and a different set of chemical-based products are required to get an infection outbreak under control. That said, there are sensible ways of saving money without compromising on quality. For instance, providers can keep ‘cost-in-use’ to a minimum by purchasing products as concentrates, and training staff to use specialist diluting equipment correctly. As one of our customers Sophie Parker, Head Housekeeper at Dalawoodie House Nursing Home in Dumfries, reminds us: “Product overuse is as bad as underuse!” You can also take steps to consolidate chemical products, which is a key COSHH stipulation. For instance, our Multi-Surface Spray Polish is ideally suited for use on mirrors, furniture and metal surfaces such as stainless steel. 2. Get your infection control processes in shape Every process involved in cleaning the care home should be underpinned by a clearly thought-out and consistent strategy. This is where we often step in, helping homes to create and implement best-practice routines and procedures for staff, residents and visitors alike. This includes detailed guidelines for product usage and storage, usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), cost sheets, template cleaning schedules, logs and risk assessments. Delivering expert COSHH training for staff is also a core part of this. We’re strong advocates of colour-coding products, equipment and even paperwork to ensure that staff have clear visual reminders of which item to use where and which guidelines to follow. I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to include every area of the care environment in your cleaning strategy, from handwashing and laundry to fabrics (even curtains) and moving and handling equipment. 3. Take the lead on compliance Regulatory compliance in the care sector is not to be taken lightly. Thorough documentation demonstrates your commitment to maintaining the highest possible cleaning standards, strict accountability, transparency and willingness to communicate openly with all stakeholders. Indeed it will ensure peace of mind during any inspection. Rigorous documentation isn’t just for when an outbreak strikes or when you are under particular scrutiny. It may sound gloomy but it is really true that those providers who prepare for disaster will recover faster! In the event of an outbreak, you’ll need to show regulators, families and local authorities that you followed the correct procedures and did all within your means to contain it. Also, compliant record-keeping reassures everyone that you are doing everything possible to prevent it from reoccurring. Our documentation package for Platinum Plan customers provides useful templates, logs and records that all help reduce the compliance burden for busy care managers. See spearheadhealthcare.com for more advice on infection control
How hygiene can make up for funding cuts
Steve Nurdin, marketing manager at Cannon Hygiene, explains how an effective hygiene strategy can help care homes providers achieve positive customer feedback and attract new business. The UK social care system is facing a crisis and care homes will be hit the hardest. Spending cuts and unsustainably low budgets – on average £620 a week – have led to care home providers not being able to cover day-to-day costs, according to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The Guardian also recently reported that social care spending has decreased by £7bn since 2010 and English councils plan to push through another £700m in social care cuts by the end of 2019. Care homes increasingly rely on the ability to attract and retain business to survive as a result. Clients expect nothing but excellence from care facility providers and poor high hygiene conditions are usually the main area for complaints and negative customer perceptions. But faced with decreasing budgets many care home owners face staff shortages and cleaning tasks often slip to the bottom of priority lists. Especially with cold and flu season just around the corner, excellent hygiene is crucial to avoid falling below standards and facing mounting customer complaints. Infections such as the common cold and flu are highly contagious and can spread like wildfire through any facility if no precautions are taken. The best defence is introducing a consistent hygiene strategy which can work in the background and take the pressure off already busy staff. Good hand hygiene is the single most important factor which can help prevent a seasonal outbreak of viruses. Hands are responsible for the spread of 80 per cent of infectious diseases and effective hand hygiene is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to kill bacteria before it can spread. Automatic hand sanitiser dispensers should be provided in key areas such as communal spaces and near entrances and exits. In washrooms – if en-suite or shared – proper hand-washing facilities are vital. No-touch solutions, such as automatic taps, soap dispensers and hand driers, can reduce the transfer of germs from the washroom into the wider care home, while also saving staff resources. Airborne germs are some of the easiest to transmit but hardest to prevent. While it is common practice, many people do not cover their mouth when sneezing or coughing. This can quickly spread bacteria between care home residents. The good news is that recent advances in technology means care home operators can now manage indoor air quality effectively and automatically. Air filters can kill bacteria, neutralise pollen and dust and fragrance the air to keep premises smell fresh throughout the day. The key to success lies in the detail, and special attention should be paid to areas where dirt and bacteria can settle and collect unnoticed. Vacuuming doormats may seem sufficient as the surface appears clean, but it only removes the top 10 per cent of the dirt, for example. Instead, they should be professionally laundered on a regular basis. Equally as important are door handles as bacteria can spread through hand to surface touch within hours throughout an entire building. In fact, a study conducted by The University of Arizona found that traces of a harmless virus placed on a door handle spread to half of the surfaces in the same building within just four hours. To tackle this issue there are solutions available that automatically spray an antibacterial mist on door grips and effectively neutralise bacteria. Managers should identify germ hotspots and develop a consistent hygiene strategy that can work in the background without much assistance. Automatic no-touch solutions will provide peace of mind for care home providers that an effective hygiene strategy is in place to protect residents and save resources. See cannonhygiene.com for more details on hygiene and infection prevention
