Wednesday, April 29, 2009
[IWS] UNISON (UK): CONTRACT CLEANING & INFECTION CONTROL: MAKING THE CONNECTIONS [17 April 2009]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
A report for UNISON (the Public Service Union)
Making the Connections, Contract Cleaning and Infection Control [17 April 2009]
Steve Davies
Senior Research Fellow Cardiff School of Social Sciences
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/14564.pdf
[full-text, 48 pages]
[excerpt]
This report reviews some of the evidence for two sets of connections: that between environmental cleaning and HCAI incidence, and that between competitive tendering and contracting out and high quality cleaning. Drawing on government, parliamentary, academic and business literature and data as well as Freedom of Information requests, it updates a previous UNISON report on contract cleaning and infection control (Davies, 2005).
Contents
Executive summary_ ________________________ 4
Introduction_ _______________________________ 5
The background_ ___________________________ 7
How clean is clean?________________________ 10
Contracting out an infection in the NHS_____ 16
Why are we still contracting out cleaning services in hospitals?______ 20
What about the workers? (and why it matters)_ 23
Low status______________________________ 23
Low numbers___________________________ 23
Low pay and poor conditions_ ____________ 25
High turnover___________________________ 26
Undervalued skill set_____________________ 28
An integrated team_ _____________________ 28
Career paths____________________________ 31
Conclusion and discussion__________________ 33
Annex: Outsourcing of estates and facilities related contracts for Domestic Services._ 35
References________________________________ 40
Presss Release 17/04/2009
UNISON CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO RAISE THE BAR ON HOSPITAL CLEANING
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1402
UNISON, the UK's largest health union, is today calling on the Government to raise the bar on hospital cleaning by boosting the number of NHS cleaners. The call comes ahead of the union's annual health conference in Harrogate* next week (20 22 April), where Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, is due to speak.
A new report from the union** Making the Connections, Contract Cleaning and Infection Control -makes the link between outbreaks of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HCAIs) such as MRSA and C Difficile and environmental contamination. The report points to evidence both in the UK and abroad that improved hospital cleaning plays a key part in controlling outbreaks of HCAIs.
AND MORE.....
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
A report for UNISON (the Public Service Union)
Making the Connections, Contract Cleaning and Infection Control [17 April 2009]
Steve Davies
Senior Research Fellow Cardiff School of Social Sciences
http://www.unison.org.uk/acrobat/14564.pdf
[full-text, 48 pages]
[excerpt]
This report reviews some of the evidence for two sets of connections: that between environmental cleaning and HCAI incidence, and that between competitive tendering and contracting out and high quality cleaning. Drawing on government, parliamentary, academic and business literature and data as well as Freedom of Information requests, it updates a previous UNISON report on contract cleaning and infection control (Davies, 2005).
Contents
Executive summary_ ________________________ 4
Introduction_ _______________________________ 5
The background_ ___________________________ 7
How clean is clean?________________________ 10
Contracting out an infection in the NHS_____ 16
Why are we still contracting out cleaning services in hospitals?______ 20
What about the workers? (and why it matters)_ 23
Low status______________________________ 23
Low numbers___________________________ 23
Low pay and poor conditions_ ____________ 25
High turnover___________________________ 26
Undervalued skill set_____________________ 28
An integrated team_ _____________________ 28
Career paths____________________________ 31
Conclusion and discussion__________________ 33
Annex: Outsourcing of estates and facilities related contracts for Domestic Services._ 35
References________________________________ 40
Presss Release 17/04/2009
UNISON CALLS ON GOVERNMENT TO RAISE THE BAR ON HOSPITAL CLEANING
http://www.unison.org.uk/asppresspack/pressrelease_view.asp?id=1402
UNISON, the UK's largest health union, is today calling on the Government to raise the bar on hospital cleaning by boosting the number of NHS cleaners. The call comes ahead of the union's annual health conference in Harrogate* next week (20 22 April), where Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, is due to speak.
A new report from the union** Making the Connections, Contract Cleaning and Infection Control -makes the link between outbreaks of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HCAIs) such as MRSA and C Difficile and environmental contamination. The report points to evidence both in the UK and abroad that improved hospital cleaning plays a key part in controlling outbreaks of HCAIs.
AND MORE.....
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:49 AM
