Standards of healthcare cleanliness under the microscope

With so much else that’s been going on in dentistry, especially adjusting to working in a world with Covid-19, it would be no surprise if many dental nurses were unaware of the requirements of the new National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness that were released without fanfare back in April 2021.

The National Standards become mandatory in April 2022 and apply to all primary care NHS healthcare establishments in England, including those providing NHS dental care and regardless of the way cleaning services are provided. The new regulations replace the National specifications for cleanliness in the NHS 2007 published by the National Patient Safety Agency, and the Healthcare cleaning manual revised by the Association of Healthcare Cleaning Professionals (AHCP) in 2013.