Supporting the NHS Trust with Enhanced Cleaning Services
Challenge
As the COVID-19 pandemic began to escalate in March 2020, the additional pressure on UK hospitals was clear to all. Demand for more high touch-point cleaning, deep-cleaning, porterage, and help with PPE logistics surged as the number of patient admissions rose exponentially. Additionally, a significant number of NHS staff (including critical cleaning teams) were forced to self-isolate, which caused gaps in service delivery. Five hospitals reached out to ABM for assistance.Mobilising additional hospital operations staff rapidly.
- Mobilising additional hospital operations staff rapidly.
- Achieving exceptional competency levels with a noticeable emphasis on security infection control and delivering exceptional patient ‘customer’ care.
- Displaying empathy and understanding for the pressures on hospital colleagues, as well as the stress and pain experienced by patients.
- Maintaining high standards of cleaning during this critical period.
- Providing management support to supplement the NHS leadership teams.
“The service you are delivering has made, and continues to make, a huge difference to all our NHS staff here. This of course includes our frontline teams, but, as importantly, our support teams"
- Brian Pratt, Director Royal Free Hospital, London
Solution
ABM was able to provide the right staffing solution by relying on:
- Comprehensive training of high calibre staff who were able to quickly deploy from aviation operations, given the reduction in air travel. They already felt comfortable with ‘anti-social’ hours in highly-regulated environments, being on their feet for long periods, and walking long distances.
- Cleaning expertise from wider ABM facilities management operations.
- Providing support to NHS leadership teams by deploying managerial colleagues with exceptional operational know-how.
- Being self-sufficient and self-regulatory regarding performance.
- Proactively providing performance management data to ensure transparency from day one.
Deploying with minimum notice was facilitated by ABM’s database of vetted colleagues on flexible employment contracts, which included details on their competency tests, skills, location, languages spoken, disability confidence training, and autism and dementia awareness.
Because of ABM's Service Standards framework, every ABM team member already understood the importance of contributing to unique ‘human’ moments, even during the most challenging situations. Team spirit, alongside personal responsibility for duties ensured a seamless incorporation with in-house teams so patients and hospital staff received a unified hospital experience.
Being accredited and having worked alongside charities and disability groups, ABM understood the challenges and how to enhance support to deliver exceptional care.
Benefits
- ABM works closely with hospital clients to enable understanding and meet their very specific needs, e.g., effective cleaning of high touchpoints and highly visible ABM teams, providing assurance to patients and hospital staff.
- A team ethos helps to be inclusive of other service providers onsite to keep the focus on service delivery. This, in turn, elevated the levels of overall performance.
- Clients now enjoy a service delivery model that supports a fast-paced environment where circumstances can change quickly, in which staffing deployment matches demand with headcount delivery.
- ABM continues to provide support with staffing, warehousing (storage and distribution of hospital beds, chairs, and other furniture), porterage, and logistics.
- The ABM management team had instant access to ABi (ABM’s Business Intelligence tool), for a BI dashboard of key aspects of service delivery, such as percentage of tasks complete, any issues of note, equipment availability, staff presence, training compliance, and so on.
- ABM team members have already provided over 123,000 labour hours. Due to exceptional service delivery standards (demonstrated by client feedback), ABM has extended its partnership with a London-based NHS trust for a further five years.
