Gone are the days when cleaners could pop out to the supermarket, grab a commercial disinfectant off the shelf, and give surfaces a quick once over. Not only will this approach detract from the appearance of your facility, but it will also raise red flags when accreditors find out that you have cut corners.
Infection control has been in the spotlight since the Royal Commission’s 2020 Special Report on COVID-19, with the report finding that “infection control is important not only for the health, safety and wellbeing of residents. It is important to those who work in aged care.”
The pandemic may have been the catalyst for this report, but its implications are relevant for a wide range of hygiene situations. Today, it’s critical for aged care facilities to clean, sanitise and disinfect to a hospital standard so they can proactively tighten infection control and reduce risk to both residents and staff.
If you don’t want to be left dissecting what went wrong after an outbreak, take a look at our nursing home cleaning checklist and get your cleaning supplies in order.
What are nursing home cleaning supplies?
Cleaning supplies for nursing homes and aged care facilities cover a range of different hygiene functions. From cleaning floors and hard surfaces to handwashing and antibacterial agents, high-quality cleaning supplies are particularly important for the vulnerable population in your care.
But how do you know your nursing home hygiene products are safe, high quality and fit for purpose?
The best way to approach this is to assess:
- what needs to be cleaned;
- which cleaners are appropriate for the job, and
- where to source specialist hospital-grade cleaning products.
What do we need to clean?
Aged care environments have a wide range of different surfaces, all of which need a slightly different approach to cleaning and disinfection. Consider the different types of surfaces at your facility – these might include:
- Shiny, non-porous surfaces such as tiled floors and stainless steel trolleys
- Hard porous surfaces such as timber tables and vinyl flooring
- Soft porous surfaces like carpet, rugs, curtains and upholstered furniture
It’s also important to look at cleaning sensitive surfaces such as computer and TV screens, painted walls and reactive metal trims such as copper, which is sensitive to acid and alkali substances.
Each of these surfaces requires a different technique, from well-known spray and wipe methods to less commonly known procedures such as fogging. Each of these is outlined in detail in our simple guide to surface disinfection.
What do we use to clean?
It’s important to note that many of the disinfectants available from supermarkets are commercial grade disinfectants – not hospital grade. This is problematic for aged care facilities and nursing homes as a higher level of protection is required, so IPC Leads and procurement teams need to source their nursing home cleaning supplies from a reputable supplier.
When stocking your cleaning room, a range of chemicals and cleaners are often necessary to ensure you’ve got the right products for different surfaces. As a basic guide, your nursing home cleaning checklist should include products from the following groups:
1. Hospital grade disinfectants
In the aged care sector, ‘hospital grade’ is synonymous with high quality. This means infection control professionals can rely on disinfectants such as Biosan II to neutralise enveloped viruses, bacteria and mould. The efficacy of these disinfectants is verified by the TGA and they are proven to provide reliable disinfection in healthcare environments, killing up to 99.9% of germs.
2. Commercial Grade Disinfectants
Commercial grade disinfectants such as Dettol do not have to meet the same stringent testing as hospital-grade disinfectants, and are more suited to lower risk areas such as public and general areas.
3. Sanitisers
Sanitisers are simply disinfectants designed for use in food preparation and kitchen facilities. Products such as Accent K44 Quat Sanitiser are purpose-designed for institutional kitchens and food preparation areas, leaving no detectable residue that could adversely affect the taste of food.
4. Skincare sanitisers
Skincare sanitisers provide germicidal action on hands and skin. Products such as Accent Hand Sanitiser are mainly used in low-risk healthcare settings and amongst the general public.
5. Antiseptics
Products such as antiseptic wipes provide high-level germicidal action for use in wound care and surgical applications.
In addition to these cleaning products, some facilities have a range of sterilants at the ready for minor surgical procedures. Sterilants are high-level disinfectants that are predominantly used to sterilise therapeutic instruments.
What makes nursing home cleaning supplies high-quality?
When buying nursing home cleaning products, choosing the best possible quality is a must. Opting for products such as disinfectants that are TGA approved means you are guaranteed an effective product that will eliminate common pathogens like bacteria and viruses.
Additionally, look for quality indicators such as plenty of supporting technical documentation, appropriate dilution ratios, and user guides to ensure you are using the product in line with the manufacturer’s instructions.
Consider your procurement chain and only work with suppliers you can trust and those that can confidently back up their product claims. Any claims that aren’t proven or don’t have an empirical source should be viewed with a healthy dose of scepticism.
Finally, when you’re reviewing suppliers, it’s a good idea to work with those that have extensive knowledge of your industry and can recommend the right products for particular scenarios. At Veridia, our experienced team is trained to provide the best technical advice and personalised service so that your staff are confident and your facility is always compliant.
Do your due diligence on nursing home cleaning supplies
Find out more about our comprehensive range of infection control products here, or contact our professional team for advice on the right solutions for your facility.
The expert technicians at Veridia have spent decades serving the aged care sector, and we can provide you with a complete hygiene protocol offering quality, compliance and peace of mind.
Leave your name below for compliance support, practical tips and direct problem-solving.
