UNISON Calls For Action Over Dirty Ambulances, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 26 Nov 2007 - 5:00 PDT

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UNISON, the UK's largest health union, is calling for urgent action to get dirty ambulances off the road. The union wants ambulance cleanliness standards to be properly applied and monitored, because of wide variations in the way Ambulance Trusts across the UK tackle the problem.

Ambulance crews are deeply worried about the risk that dirty ambulances pose in spreading MRSA and other healthcare acquired infections. They point to targets, time and money pressures as the reasons behind differences in cleaning "The Government recently announced extra money for deep cleaning hospitals, but ambulances seem to have been forgotten. They are part of the patient care package and no one should have to travel or work in a dirty ambulance

"Ambulance cleanliness is a key factor in the battle against healthcare related infections and the standards laid down should be strictly applied and monitored. The guidance on ambulance infection control is comprehensive, but in practice the essential resources necessary to keep vehicles clean and infection free are not being provided.

"In many trusts ambulance crews are responsible for cleaning their own vehicles and this is a waste of their time and training. They should be out there saving lives not mopping out the back of a dirty ambulance.

"Existing voluntary guidelines should become mandatory standards, including a rigorous monitoring and inspection regime. The additional funding needed to bring all Ambulance services up to scratch should be made available by the Government and not provided at the expense of other Ambulance or NHS services."

Across the UK

In Scotland there are dedicated cleaners in some of the City Stations. Some stations get the time to do a weekly clean on their vehicles while others are simply too busy.

This is a situation that the Service takes seriously and is currently looking at different ways of working. One proposal involves using cleaners from NHS Boards who have the correct training for cleaning ambulances.

Scottish stations also have protocols involving which cleaning materials to use to ensure no cross infection in the station i.e. colour coded mops.

In the South West, crews report little headway on this issue. There was a commitment to address the problem by employing some staff to deep clean vehicles and stations where necessary but the cost is causing delays.

In Wales there is a strong belief amongst ambulance crews that not enough is being done to ensure vehicles are kept routinely and consistently clean. This has led to the responsibility for ambulance cleanliness to be part of the role of new team leaders. In addition, following pressure from staff and the union, the service is looking at a "make-ready" scheme, similar to the one in the London Ambulance Service. This would involve new super-stations where ambulances would be cleaned and made ready for crews to swap over.

The North East Ambulance Service has been proactive in tackling the problem of dirty ambulances for some time. Crews are responsible for on going cleaning between jobs, however, the trust has employed vehicle cleaners. Ambulances are routinely removed from service every four-to six weeks to be serviced by fleet. When this happens the vehicle is emptied off all equipment and deep cleaned and decontaminated then restocked ready for the road.

http://www.unison.org

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