Transforming cleaning and portering in the NHS
Cleaning and portering are essential functions in any hospital setting with cleaning being essential in keeping patients safe from infection. These services need to run effectively and efficiently as they are a key part of the infrastructure of any hospital and directly impact on patients and the ability of clinical staff to do their jobs.
At Kingsgate we have been working extensively with a North London Trust and as part of this we were tasked with reviewing its in-house cleaning and portering functions.
Engaged to work alongside the facilities team to bring cleaning schedules and portering rotas in line with comparable organisations, we also needed to ensure compliance with the National Standards of Cleanliness (NSoC) 2021.
Through our work we identified potential pay savings of over ￡1m across portering and cleaning.
Although we found areas of good practice in the Trust, cleaning standards were not up to NSoC 2021, with limited evidence of audit control, training and effective processes. Cleaning hours were double what would be expected for a Trust of its size and spend had increased in recent years. There was a reliance on agency and bank staff who made up 50% of the cleaning and portering workforce.
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Portering capacity was not linked to demand and this was not used to inform rosters.
We started by reviewing existing data and reports, having face to face meetings with the facilities team and other key stakeholders in the Trust, including Infection Prevention and Control, and walking the estate to better understand this and the cleaning and portering requirements.
After this review, we then made our recommendations drawing on our extensive knowledge of the healthcare sector and also our experience across many other business sectors.
If you would like to talk to us about your estates and facilities management function and how we can work with you to achieve higher standards, reduce costs and improve the reputation of your team both internally and with patients, get in touch.