DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release (207/0330) issued by The Government News Network on
Health Secretary
Alan Johnson today announced detailed regional funding for deep
cleaning and confirmed the date by which all NHS hospitals in
England will have carried out a deep clean.
In a statement to the House of Commons, the Health Secretary told
MPs that all Trusts will have to submit detailed deep clean plans,
including costs, to their Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health
Authorities (SHAs). Deep cleaning is one element of a wider range
of measures introduced by the Government, which all Trusts need to
take to tackle healthcare associated infections and ensure patient safety.
Foundation Trusts will also be invited to agree plans and funding
for additional deep cleaning with local commissioners, together
with local arrangements for checking the agreed work has been
carried out. SHAs will, in turn, be expected to report progress
across their regions to the Department of Health.
All ten regions have allocated dedicated funding to support the
deep clean. Infection control is a complex problem that needs a
range of solutions. There is no single remedy.
Alan Johnson said
"Undertaking a deep clean is a key part of our strategy to
improve cleanliness and ensure patients have confidence that their
hospitals are safe. The Strategic Health Authorities have now
allocated funding so that hospitals can get on with the Deep Clean
programme this winter with the aim of completing all deep cleans
by the end of March 2008. People want an NHS that is clean and
safe, the deep clean programme will help to reassure patients and
build public confidence in the NHS"
Progress on the deep clean programme and new details on reporting
were unveiled as the results of the latest Patient Environment and
Action Team (PEAT) inspection were published by the National
Patient Safety Agency.
The inspections measure patient satisfaction with a range of
areas including food and aspects of privacy and dignity, as well
as cleanliness and the patient environment.
The figures published today also show that in 2007, 98 percent of
hospitals were rated excellent, good or acceptable: up from 95
percent in 2006. This is against a more rigorous process in 2007
than for 2006.
Alan Johnson said:
"Patients tell me that they are concerned about standards of
cleanliness in the NHS and their concerns are my concern. I am
pleased to say that hospitals have made progress. This
year's PEAT inspection results show only a handful of
hospitals rated 'poor' or 'unacceptable' for
the patient environment."
"This is good progress, but every hospital in England should
aspire to the level of the best. Excellent standards are what
patients and staff want and should expect from our NHS"
Notes to editors
1. Further information of the funding available to support the
deep clean of the NHS at regional level was provided to MPs. The
table below outlines the spending intentions of each SHA to
support the deep clean.
SHA 2007/08 Expenditure intentions £m
North East 3
North West 6.4
Yorkshire and Humber 5
East Midlands 7
West Midlands 9.9
East of England 4.2
London 8
South East Coast 5.4
South Central 3.5
South West 5.1
Total 57.5
2. The headline results of the PEAT inspections are available on
the NPSA website at http://www.npsa.nhs.uk/peat
and are summarised below..
PEAT inspections cover food and aspects of privacy and dignity,
as well as cleanliness and the environment. All areas have shown
improvement this year.
The table below set out this years scores with 2006 scores in brackets.
% Hospitals Excellent Good Acceptable Poor Unacceptable
Patient 14%(14.2%) 49%(49.8%) 35%(31.0%) 1.5%(4.7%) 0.5%(0.3%)
Environment
3. The deep clean programme announced by the Prime Minister in
October 2007. On the 1st November, the NHS received guidance on
what a deep clean might entail. The details of the deep clean
will be finalised locally.
All Trusts will submit costed deep clean plans to their lead
commissioners, who will monitor performance against this plan, as
per normal performance management arrangements. SHAs will take an
overview as to progress across their area and will report to the
Department of Health.
[ENDS]