by Shane Henson — July 1, 2011—England’s Department of Health and the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) has released a new specification, PAS 5748, for the planning, application and measurement of cleanliness services in acute, community and mental health hospitals in England. The publicly available specification (PAS) will assist in the provision of hospital cleanliness in support of infection prevention and control and improved patient, public and staff confidence.
PAS 5748 specifies requirements for:
- Governance of cleanliness services
- Assessing the risk of a lack of cleanliness both for infection and 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
PAS 5748 can be purchased by independent healthcare providers from BSI, and for NHS organizations in England an electronic download is available free of charge. The PAS is intended to be endorsed at board level and implemented by key directors whose responsibilities include the provision of a clean, safe environment for care. It will also be of interest to those bodies responsible for commissioning hospital services.
