Acute NHS Trust - West
of
London
Domestic Services Review
Deliverables
Assess efficiency of two
separate locations and Service providers
Draft new specification to meet
NHS Plan objectives (included Clean Hospital Programme and New Housekeepers)
Prepare Tender documentation
Support in house bid (to include
financial analysis on affordability)
FM Support Resource
Peter William General management NHS background Anne Baker
Researcher NHS Background (ex nurse)
Iain Rolston General Management NHS
& Contracting
Background
An Acute Trust with 890 beds
split over two locations west of
London
.
The Trust had been given a red PEAT grading and felt it would benefit from
external expertise in addressing these shortcomings.
The two sites provided
contrasting environments:
Old premises within a wealthy
catchments area, all support services provided by an in-house team 260 bed no
A&E
The larger site of 630 beds,
inclusive of A&E, within a predominantly working class area with a mixed
ethnic background. The buildings are grouped around a sixties administrative
tower. All cleaning services being provided by a contractor
Project scope and Activity
Initial work involved the
development of a new cleaning specification (prior to the
Clean
Hospital
documentation).
Domestic staffs were not always
regarded as part of the Clinical ward team and this was recognised as an
important issue to overcome.
A series of workshops and ward
reviews were therefore undertaken to ensure the new specification addressed
these issues.
Because of the wide brief and
importance associated with wide participation, the project was under the
management of Board Director.
FM Support established a working
group with representatives from Hotel Services, Estates, Personnel, Unions and
Clinical Care Groups.
Case study
The specification took the BICS
(British Institute of Cleaning Science) documentation as a template.
This was subsequently used
within the Clean Hospital Programme and was easily modified to comply.
While these standards were being
developed, the Trust recognised that the emerging New Housekeeper role very
much reflected elements which were being developed from ward input.
Housekeeping was therefore
included within an overall service specification which gave the Trust the
option to encompass both requirements should funding be available.
Following through
Having completed our task of
establishing the new specification we were asked to lead the Trust’s in house
team in their preparation of a tender response.
Working with the in house team,
supported by unions, personnel and others, proposals were submitted
successfully to demonstrate the group’s ability to both address the basic
cleaning need and to enhance it. The goal was to achieve
Clean
Hospital
standard and incorporate the New Housekeeper role.
It was recognised that the
Trust’s funds did not enable Housekeepers to be appointed throughout and so we
undertook significant analysis and ward reviews to identify potential sources
of funding.
This involved redefining
existing roles, utilisation of extended duties, some cross department provision
and preparation of phasing schedules. This achieved full implementation to
match the NHS 2004 target.
Key Achievement
The
development of a new service specification which brought the Trust to the
forefront of NHS Plan objectives and contributed to a more cohesive Ward
Service.
Provision of phased
implementation programme utilising the available funds.
