References
‘Clean is Green’: promoting cleaning as a sustainable healthcare intervention
Abstract
Background:
Clinical cleaning in some areas of a large teaching hospital in the south of England required improvement to meet required standards.
Aim:
To assess whether promoting cleaning as a sustainable healthcare intervention is likely to improve hospital cleanliness.
Methods:
Routine cleaning audits were used to benchmark hospital cleanliness. The impact of cleaning on healthcare sustainability was promoted across the hospital through posters placed in communal staff areas. A staff survey and poll were conducted following the promotion.
Findings:
Survey responses showed some understanding of how cleaning can contribute to sustainable health care. The staff poll suggested that nearly 90% of respondents thought that explaining how cleaning contributed to lowering the carbon footprint of the hospital would motivate staff to clean more. The audit results across the hospital showed an increase in audit pass rate following the promotions.
Conclusion:
Empowering staff to understand the links between cleaning and carbon footprint is likely to improve cleaning practice.
A clean hospital is a cornerstone for sustainable health care because a clean environment reduces the rates of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), which are associated with longer hospital stays, increased use of personal protective equipment (PPE), more expensive treatment with greater risk of serious side-effects, higher acuity care, poorer surviving patient outcomes and higher mortality rates (De Angelis et al, 2010; Kritsotakis et al, 2017; Guest et al, 2019). Hospital cleanliness therefore plays a key role in both planetary health (by reducing the carbon footprint of care) and antibiotic stewardship, which is a global healthcare priority.
Although some environmental cleaning can be undertaken by cleaners, there is a significant proportion of cleaning activities that must be conducted by clinical staff (Loveday et al, 2014). The proportion of cleaning undertaken by clinical staff increases in high-acuity areas such as intensive care units (ICUs), emergency departments (EDs) and theatres. This creates a pressure on staff providing the highest acuity care to also deliver the best and most consistent cleaning results. Enabling these areas to achieve the required cleaning standards meets the financial, social and environmental triple bottom line of sustainability in health care. This is because it is:
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