According to the Public Procurement and Supply Directorate’s decision announced on 16th March 2021, B+N has been awarded a public procurement contract in a tender for providing hospital cleaning services. The 3+1 years contract includes the National Institute of Oncology where B+N has been responsible for the cleaning and disinfection services since 1st June 2022.
Higher service standards to meet stricter hygienic requirements
Compared to the former agreement of the National Institute of Oncology on cleaning, B+N Referencia Zrt. is providing its services at a higher technological and operational level and under stricter hygienic requirements – now at 16 contracted hospitals all over the country – portfolio.hu reports.
A staff of 67 cleaning professionals are responsible for 30,000 m2 at the National Institute of Oncology. The new system defines several instructions aimed at increasing the safety of patients, including the following for the cleaning staff:
- It determines the mandatory number of cleaning staff in high-, medium- and low-risk areas.
- In addition to the daily shift, 6 cleaning professionals and 2 additional permanent staff for final disinfection are required in each central site, thus increasing the level of safety compared to the former process where this activity was carried out along with the daily cleaning.
- The company is responsible for the compulsory ongoing training of the cleaning staff.
- For ensuring a high level of services, the company employs professionals with the required qualification (healthcare expert, public health and epidemiological expert, pest control technician).
- The quality of cleaning is permanently checked using GlowCheck and ATP test methods.
Extra-special attention to avoid cross-contamination
With the new system, stricter requirements for the use of tools and equipment have been defined, such as:
- Consistent use of technology and cleaning and disinfection materials is required.
- Impregnated mobs must be used.
- Disinfection solutions must be prepared using a centralized dosing system, so that precise concentration levels can be guaranteed, greatly reducing the risk of resistance.
- Only impregnated cleaning cloths may be used. A new cloth must be used in each room to reduce the risk of cross-infection between rooms to a significant extent.
- With the help of RFID mops, the risk of being infected is greatly reduced for the cleaning staff.
- At each hospital department, a separate fully-equipped cleaning cart must be used and this cart must not leave the territory of the department – this is also aimed at reducing the risk of cross-infections.
- 4 full sets of working clothes are provided to the staff and the disinfection and washing of such clothes are also carried out by the company.
- To stop the spread of infections, B+N provides a qualified cleaning staff dedicated to areas where patients with contagious diseases are or were treated, with full protective clothing made available to them and tools strictly dedicated to such tasks (e.g. where COVID-19 patients are treated).
- In addition to manual cleaning, B+N provides machines and tools precisely allocated to surface sizes to be cleaned (ozone generators, hydrogen-peroxide disinfection machines, ride-on or walk-behind floor scrubbers).
- To ensure and maintain the expected level of hygiene, B+N introduces technological innovations, such as the ROBIN 3000 autonomous cleaning robot developed by the R&D Department of B+N Referencia Zrt. for cleaning extensive surfaces.
The new system provides significantly higher standards
For hospitals joining this new system, the consistent and significantly higher standards provide not only greater safety with a higher level of hygiene but also a transparent and consistent structure with easier supervision. The ongoing training of the professional staff is the key to following the strict procedures, cleaning methodology and use of chemicals and working according to standardized technical and technological parameters.
