Privatised Cleaning in the NHS
Unison today reported that the result of private sector tendering
for cleaning jobs in the NHS was a reduction in the number of cleaners
over the past two decades, leading to an increased risk of infection.
Their earlier study stated that the 45% cut in cleaning staff (in 1984
there were more than 100,000 cleaners, but by 2003, the number had
fallen to 55,000) directly caused the spread of the “MRSA superbug”.
MRSA is blamed for 5,000 deaths a year. It is estimated that
hospital-acquired infections (including but not limited to MRSA) affect
about 100,000 people each year in England, costing the NHS £1bn.
Simply put, private agencies want to make a profit. In order to do this they:
1. cut staff numbers without reducing the workload, so that cleaners cannot possibly do their job properly
2. cut the amount and quality of cleaning equipment at their disposal (e.g. cheap disinfectants)
3. refuse sick pay to workers (or avoid the problem by only using
part-time staff) meaning that cleaners attend work while carrying
illnesses which can be passed to patients
4. fail to provide protective equipment to cleaners working in areas
where patients have infectious diseases (while NHS staff are warned of
the dangers of cross infection, and given suitable equipment)
5. use staff for more that one job (but no doubt charge the tax
payer for both). One cleaner confirmed "I could go straight from
cleaning the toilets to giving out teas; I can't change my uniform."
6. warn staff not to speak to the press about the unsatisfactory situation.
Last month Lord Warner (health minister) published a report which
found that fewer than half the hospitals in England had good or
excellent cleanliness ratings. The government has published a “best
practice guide” on evaluating and awarding contracts so that quality is
considered alongside price.
Unison, however, have made it clear that the best way to deal with
the problem, is to stop contracting cleaning out to private bodies.
"Hospital cleaners are the real experts and they say we need more
staff, better equipment, proper training, effective teamwork and
greater involvement in decision making. The impossibility of trying to
clean too many wards with not enough staff, the cheap disinfectants,
the shoddy equipment, the lack of training and sadly the lack of
respect from other staff, are all barriers to cleaner hospitals."
Dave Prentis was treated for cancer of the oesophagus shortly before
becoming the leader of Unison. His operation was successful, but he
developed MRSA while recovering in a different hospital.
"The first was absolutely spotless. The cleaners were hospital
employees and went to all the ward meetings. They would move the beds
each day to clean underneath them, and the cleaner would chat to all
the patients. At the other, the service was contracted out to a private
firm. It was filthy, there was dirt on the curtains which the nurses
weren't allowed to clean for health and safety reasons, so it stayed
there. Yet on this ward, they were looking after people who had had
their legs amputated and had major wounds."
The government seems desperate to propagate the lie that private
companies are somehow more efficient than public bodies. So we the
taxpayer end up paying more for a substandard service because private
companies have a profit margin. What actually happens here is that
instead of the local Health Board employing people directly they award
contracts to private companies, the private companies pay their
employees less, give less training and spend much of their income on
lining the pockets of upper management. The idiot capitalist idea that
the drive for profits improves the standard of service simply doesn’t
hold up to scrutiny. Patients in hospitals are not consumers and if we
keep moving towards this view we will end up destroying one of our
greatest institutions.
