Environmental cleaning project

The Blood and Marrow and Cellular Therapies Network commenced the Environmental Cleaning Project in 2013, in partnership with the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC). The project was developed following the release of the NSW Environmental Cleaning Policy (PD2012_061) in 2012 by the NSW Ministry of Health and the CEC. The policy highlighted blood and marrow transplant (BMT) units as extreme risk functional areas and recommended a 90% acceptable quality limit (AQL) for environmental cleanliness.

The project included the completion of six external audits and two surveys of the environmental cleaning practices of the 15 BMT wards in NSW. In 2018, the ACI partnered with HealthShare NSW – Training and Compliance to complete the audits. The audit rounds have demonstrated generally sustained improvement from the initial 2013 audit.

Individual hospital reports were provided in view of continual improvement and promoting healthcare cleanliness. Network-wide reports also reviewed overall trends and recommended key areas of improvements. Two forums were held with hospital cleaners, environmental services and clinical governance to share initiatives and facilitate common practices.

ACI assisted in the review of the policy directive, which was released as PD2020_22 Cleaning of the Healthcare Environment in July 2020.

For more information, visit the CEC’s website.