PAS5748 Launches at National Conference

Monday, 20 June 2011 00:00  |  Web master

PAS 5748, the new Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for healthcare cleaning was launched by AHCP President Dr. Liz Jones at the AHCP National Conference. The specification is intended to provide assurance to the public that risks associated with hospital cleanliness have been fully assessed and that nationally agreed procedures are in place to ensure hospitals are clean and safe for patients.

This is the first time a detailed specification has been formulated and introduced covering healthcare cleaning. It comes as the result of a joint research and development programme undertaken by the Department of Health, the British Standards Institution (BSI) and the AHCP along with the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA), British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc), the Health Estates and Facilities Management Association (HeFMA) and the Infection Prevention Society (IPS).

PAS 5748 provides a consensus based specification for planning, measuring and improving cleanliness services in healthcare. It is designed for use in acute, community and mental health hospitals and is intended as an additional tool, to be used alongside the National Specifications for Cleanliness in the NHS (NSC).

Use of PAS 5748 will not be mandatory but in view of the large number of leading organisations supporting it, it is believed that adoption will be widespread. The specification has been trialled in 14 leading Trusts throughout England. Hospitals will be able to use it to provide evidence of good practice to the Care Quality Commission that nationally agreed procedures are in place for their premises and that they are clean and safe for patients.

PAS 5748 has been produced under the auspices of the BSI and applies to NHS hospitals in England. However, the PAS process enables specifications to be developed rapidly to meet industry needs. PAS 5748 may be considered for further development as a British Standard should the devolved administrations in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland decide to take up the specification. It could also be of benefit to other healthcare providers such as GP surgeries, clinics and nursing and care homes.

PAS 5748 is available from BSI.The main page with more information and to order copies is: http://shop.bsigroup.com/pas5748. The standard price for copies of PAS 5748 is £70.00 (STG).

Free copies for NHS Trusts in England

BSI are offering staff working for NHS Trusts in England free-of-charge copies of PAS 5748. NHS users in England are also able to download spreadsheets developed to support the PAS provisions relating to risk assessment and audit. There is a link on the main page on the BSI web site shown above for NHS staff to register to obtain free copies. Alternatively you can go direct to the registration site here: http://feedback.bsigroup.com/Home/Details/792 

PAS 5748 is a major milestone along the road to clean, safe hospitals and healthcare environments. It represents the culmination of a process to identify and standardise healthcare cleaning processes and procedures which started a decade ago with the publication of the first National Standards of Cleanliness in 2001 and the first edition of the Healthcare Cleaning Manual in 2003.