Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Trust (NLAG) provides acute hospital services and community care across the North & North East Lincolnshire including the East Riding of Yorkshire. It has around 850 beds and employs approximately 6,500 staff members.

Implementation of Medi9 and Uni9 at the Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS foundation trust.

In 2017, the decision was taken by infection control to look at the cleaning processes and procedures having identified that the trust was currently using significant quantities of chlorine-based disinfectants on a daily basis and this was of detriment to patients, staff and the environment. Consultation with Facilities services resulted in Nine Group being invited to present alternative products for evaluation. Facilities services were intently interested in improving patient care through using quality products.

NLAG was using a variety of different standard detergent cleaners on a daily basis for floors, with the regular use of chlorine-based products for hard surfaces in patient and clinical areas and additional chemicals for post infection cleans.

Following an extensive trial period, the decision was taken in May 2018 to roll out the products across all three hospital sites the trust was responsible for. The products included were:

• Uni9 floor and hard surface anti-bacterial detergent cleaner
• Uni9 toilet cleaner and descaler
• Medi9 high level disinfectant for terminal/infection and deep cleaning

The cleaning processes and policies were revised to reflect the introduction of more effective cleaning chemicals and the reduced range of products required to facilitate a high cleaning standard. The number of products used would be effectively reduced by 50%

Nine Group conducted an audit and worked with the trust to revise the SOPS, implement training for staff.  It subsequently has conducted regular site visits after the initial implementation to ensure we maintain a consistently correct usage of the product.

The six months after implementation to the end of 2018 has produced positive feedback from patients and staff. Ease of use and the non-toxic formulations have resulted in improved compliance from staff and a reduction in the number of requests for deep cleans by nearly 15%. In addition, it has helped the Trust achieve a 30% reduction in the number of C.difficile cases.

Following successful full implementation and due to our advanced cleaning techniques and improved procedures, we are pleased to report that we have not had to close an entire ward due to viral gastroenteritis infection outbreak for twelve months.