THE Countess of Chester Hospital has already started its “deep clean” as part of Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s initiative to tackle the spread of superbugs such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile.
Mr Brown wants the cleaning to be pre-emptive rather than a reaction to outbreaks.
But critics have questioned how effective such moves are, saying it is staff, patients and visitors who carry MRSA.
Health Secretary Alan Johnson was this week reported to have revealed that fewer than 50 of the 170 hospital trusts in England have begun their “deep cleans”.
But the Countess confirmed it had commenced its “deep clean” which is expected to be successfully completed by April 1.
In response to the Department of Health’s November 2007 paper – Improving Cleanliness and Infection Control, the Trust successfully deep cleaned theatres in November.
The deep clean for wards and acute units started in the Women and Children’s department at the beginning of December with another five units and wards being completed so far.
In addition to the £2m the Countess spends annually on cleaning, the Trust has invested an additional £325,000 for this initial “deep clean” initiative.
In an article for the News of the World during Labour’s party conference, Mr Brown pledged hospitals in England would be cleaned “a ward at a time, walls, ceilings, fittings and ventilation shafts will be disinfected and scrubbed clean”.
But in a Commons written reply, junior minister Ann Keen said there were “no plans to centrally monitor the deep cleaning of hospitals”, or “the effectiveness of deep cleaning”.
Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said the admission showed it was “just a Brown gimmick”.
