Care home cleaning is not the same job as office cleaning with more rooms. It is part of infection prevention and control, and it is judged by an inspector who will look at the cleaning records as closely as the floors. For care home managers in Luton and across Bedfordshire, this guide sets out what good care home cleaning looks like, the standards behind it, and the questions to ask any provider before they start.
The standards behind care home cleaning
Registered providers in England are expected to work to the Code of Practice on the prevention and control of infections under the Health and Social Care Act 2008. It expects the environment to be clean, cleaning to be planned, and responsibilities to be clear. The Care Quality Commission considers infection control when it assesses whether a service is safe. In practice that means a written cleaning schedule, trained staff, the right products and evidence that the work was done.
What care home cleaning covers
Residents’ rooms
Daily cleaning of touch points such as bed rails, call bells, bedside tables, light switches and door handles, plus en suite facilities. A deeper clean when a resident leaves or when there is an outbreak.
Communal areas
Lounges, dining rooms, corridors and hand rails. These carry the highest footfall and the greatest mixing of residents, staff and visitors.
Bathrooms, sluices and laundry areas
The highest risk areas, cleaned more than once a day with dedicated equipment that never leaves the area.
Shared equipment
Hoists, commodes, wheelchairs and shower chairs need cleaning between residents. Clear responsibility for who cleans what, care staff or cleaning staff, prevents gaps.
Colour coding
Most care settings follow the national colour coding for cleaning equipment, so a cloth or mop used in a toilet is never used in a kitchen. The usual scheme is red for bathrooms, washrooms and toilets, blue for general areas, green for catering areas and yellow for isolation areas. Whatever scheme a home uses, every cleaner needs to know it and every item needs to be labelled.
Products and COSHH
Detergent removes dirt, disinfectant kills organisms, and disinfectant does not work well on a surface that has not been cleaned first. Products must be used at the right dilution and contact time, stored securely away from residents, and covered by COSHH assessments. Residents living with dementia make secure storage especially important.
Records inspectors look for
- A cleaning schedule showing what is cleaned, how often and by whom
- Signed daily records for each area
- Deep clean records, including after outbreaks and room changes
- Training records for cleaning staff in infection control and COSHH
- Regular audits and the actions that followed them
Choosing a cleaning provider for a care setting
Ask whether staff have worked in care settings before, what infection control training they hold, whether they are DBS checked at the right level, and how the provider records its work. A provider that also understands care staffing is useful here, because cleaning and care teams need to agree where their responsibilities meet. Our guide to DBS check levels explains which check applies to cleaners in care homes.
Frequently asked questions
How often should a care home be deep cleaned?
Deep cleans are usually scheduled per area, with extra deep cleans after outbreaks and whenever a room changes resident.
Should cleaning staff be employed or contracted?
Either works if the standard is written down and monitored. Contract cleaning is useful for cover, deep cleans and outbreak response.
Can cleaners work while residents are in their rooms?
Yes, with the resident’s agreement and with respect for their privacy and routine. Good care home cleaners work around residents, not the other way round.
Care home cleaning in Luton and Bedfordshire
Care homes and supported living services in Luton, Dunstable, Houghton Regis, Bedford and Milton Keynes need cleaning that works around residents, meal times and visiting hours. We plan the clean with the home manager so communal areas are done when residents are elsewhere, and rooms are cleaned with the resident’s routine in mind.
Our cleaners are DBS-checked through uCheck before placement. Because we also supply care staff, we understand the infection control expectations care settings in the area work to.
Care home cleaning from ST HECS
ST HECS provides commercial and care setting cleaning alongside healthcare staffing across Luton and Bedfordshire. Contact our Luton team to discuss a cleaning schedule for your home.
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