UNISON has today welcomed the Health Secretary’s plans to clean up hospitals and help prevent unnecessary suffering and death to patients caused by cross infection and dirty wards.
National officer Yvonne Cleary said:
“Initiatives to clean up our hospitals are always welcome. Far too many people are infected through poor standards of hygiene. We need to get back to basics and place hygiene at the heart of good hospital management.”
“You can’t escape from the fact that our hospitals got dirtier allowing the rise of superbugs and other infections when cleaning staff numbers were slashed. Under the Tories the numbers of cleaners dropped by more than half and we have never addressed those cuts.”
“It’s great to hear that there will be “bug-busters” appointed to every hospital in England. But, unless more cleaners are employed on our wards and they are truly part of the hospital infection control team, it will make little difference. Sensible use of antibiotics and ensuring all staff are washing their hands is of course important but there needs to be enough cleaning staff to do a thorough, professional cleaning job in the first place.”
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Note: In 1986 there were 88,307* cleaners in the NHS, UNISON estimates that of the total current ancillary workforce (62,000) less than 30,000 of these are cleaners, the others are porters, laundry and catering staff.
*DoH statistics. They are no longer collected by specific occupational group, so there are no actual statistics on the numbers of cleaners currently employed. In 1986, this 88,307 represented around 50% of the total ancillary workforce.