Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110

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Truvox Multiwash machines keep Glasgow Royal Infirmary floors clean

If you were to rank the locations where regular hygienic cleaning and maintenance are must haves, then hospitals would certainly be serious contenders for the number one spot. 

Ensuring that healthcare settings are clean and tidy is not only important from an aesthetic point of view - creating a good impression for patients and visitors and raising staff morale - it is also essential from a treatment perspective. A hygienically clean hospital is a fundamental part of helping patients to recover and keeping infections at bay.

Hospitals are busy places that never sleep. They welcome huge numbers of people through their doors, all day, every day, so floors in particular have to stand up to pretty harsh treatment. This means that the right cleaning machines are essential - and Glasgow Royal Infirmary has found its perfect solution in the Truvox Multiwash.

The Glasgow Royal Infirmary (GRI) is a large teaching hospital, operated by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. It provides a broad range of regional, supra-regional and national acute clinical services and has more than 70 wards. In addition, it has a busy accident and emergency department, including major treatment rooms for patients with serious injuries, a separate minor injuries unit and a resuscitation unit with six bays. Furthermore with two x-ray facilities all its floors require regular, effective cleaning by equipment that won't let the facility down.

The Truvox Multiwash is a multi-purpose floor cleaning machine that washes, mops, scrubs and dries on both hard and soft floor coverings in one single pass. This versatility makes it ideal for use in hospitals and healthcare settings, where different locations - from reception areas and offices to wards, clinics, treatment rooms and canteens - will have different types of flooring.

Safety flooring in particular is on the increase in hospitals and this poses no problems for the Multiwash, as Lesley Davis, Truvox's Regional Account Manager for Scotland and Ireland, explains:

"Hospitals have to adhere to very strict infection control rules, which favour the use of natural detergents and taurine-based products. However, for these chemicals to be properly effective on safety flooring they need to be applied by a machine that provides thoroughness through its continuous brush agitation and consistent pressure contact with the floor.

"The Multiwash performs exceptionally well in both these respects and it also allows the chemical sufficient contact time with the floor, enabling it to be even more effective, before the area is rinsed and dried."

Any floor surfacing material can be cleaned by the Multiwash, and not just what's flat on the floor. The machine's optional side brush enables cleaning to 'skirting board' level, which is especially important with safety flooring, which tends to curve up the wall before it finishes, as well as in places like wet rooms.

A choice of brushes is available, for normal, maintenance cleaning or intensive scrubbing.

"The brushes run at an effective speed and pressure and don't cause too much friction, which can sometimes cause damage to specialist flooring," continues Lesley Davis. "They can be colour-coded to prevent cross contamination, and being made from polypropylene they are easy to disinfect and don't harbour bacteria like natural fibres can."

This versatile machine enables hospital cleaning staff to work to the very highest of standards, helping in the constant fight against infections... and the crowning glory of the Multiwash is that it does it quietly. Quietness is an important issue for healthcare settings, as noise can be an unwelcome and distracting intrusion, which can have a negative effect on the recovery of patients.

"There has been a huge growth in primary care community hospitals, where many elderly people and those with specific conditions such as dementia, are treated," concludes Lesley. "A calm, quiet, safe environment is essential in the treatment and care of these types of patients, especially as daytime cleaning is so prevalent."

Margaret Scott, assistant domestic services manager at the GRI, reveals that the Multiwash has brought many different benefits in terms of ease of use for cleaning staff, as well as wider results for the hospital itself.

"The Multiwash gives us great results, at a good price, and with excellent back-up service," she offers. "The rotary brushes are particularly effective for tiled floors as they get deep into the grout lines. The Multiwash also helps us clean hygienically in quick time - something that is essential in the very busy labour ward birthing rooms!"

T: 023 8070 6600
E: [email protected]
W: www.truvox.com

25th October 2012