Top tips on maintaining good standards of hygiene and cleanliness in care homes

Cleanliness is crucial in care homes, as when people age they are not as strong and resilient as they once were, and are more vulnerable to the spread of infections.

A clean and fresh care home is also aesthetically pleasing both for the residents and their friends and relatives coming to visit them. The environment you live in can have a huge effect on your wellbeing and dirt and mess can really affect morale.

Proctor and Gamble, which provides cleaning, safety and hygiene products, has some top tips to help care homes give the best experience for residents.

Feeling at home

Offering an environment that looks and smells clean can be made even better by using scented products that help resident feel comfortable and in a friendly and welcoming place. Offering a personal touch will help resident feel at home and create lasting happy memories of their time spent with you.

In a recent survey, 97 per cent of people said that the cleanliness of a care home was a key differentiator when making a decision about a care home and 61 per cent of people expect care homes to maintain a ‘spring clean’ standard of cleanliness all year round.

Infection-free

Don’t leave first impressions to chance. Leave clues to tell people that the care home has been cleaned to perfection.

Flash Multi-Purpose Cleaner has a fresh lemony scent which can leave communal areas smelling fresh and clean – it’s a succinct way of telling your visitors or residents you’ve gone the extra mile, giving them confidence that your care home has outstanding cleanliness and more importantly, is infection-free.

Always fresh scents

Using diffusers can promote a clean and hygienic care home and often lemony scents can remind residents of their own homes or trigger moments from their past which could create reminiscence opportunities.

Going the extra mile in these ways will show that as well as being infection free, the care home thinks about its resident’s needs and preferences in every decision they make.

A member of staff form Azalea Court Care Home, Bush Hill Park, Enfield said: “The Disinfecting Sanitary Spray was good in the bathroom. It left a nice sheen, and a nice smell after we’ve cleaned. The bathroom was nicely presented when we were finished.”

Tackling lime scale

We know bathroom hygiene is a particular hotspot for people so use a product like P&G Professional’s Disinfecting Sanitary Cleaner to eliminate limescale.

Innovative laundry technology

The team at P&G has also created a new way for care homes to benefit from their expertise, to save money and improve the life experiences of their residents through innovative technology to clean laundry in the most economic and safe way.

P&G’s professional Laundry System promises disinfection at washes of just 40 degrees, but most importantly provides softness and freshness and gentle stain removing technology to give residents the most homely feel possible.

The system promises to cut down on the valuable time taken by staff members to carry out laundry duties, which combined with a lower washing temperature can save money to allow care homes to manager costs and use savings in other important areas of the home.

A manager from a care home in Louvres, France said: “I didn’t believe you to begin with, but we have got great washing results at 60 degrees. We are pleasantly surprised. It’s no longer necessary to wash at a high temperature, which is an important saving in time and in energy.”

Laundry Staff based in a nursing home in Bentley explained: “Grey towels and clothes were brought back white again and chefs’ whites which are normally difficult to clean had improved stain removal and were whiter and appeared newer.”

The system works through an automated system feeding laundry products from the canister to the machine via a wall mounted pump at the front of the washing machine. This form of automatic dosing ensures correct amounts are always used to minimise wastage and offers heightened safety for staff.

P&G runs a members only academy for care home professionals to receive more tips and training videos, receive free samples of products and share good practise with industry experts.

For more information go to www.pgpro.co.uk/academy