When someone goes to a hospital or other medical facility, they know they're trusting their care to doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, but in the era of super bugs housecleaning staff also play a key role in keeping patients healthy.
This year all Northern Health facilities passed provincially mandated external housekeeping audits and received the best cumulative score in the province.
"We do have a group of very dedicated housekeeping staff across the organization that take their responsibility very seriously," Northern Health CEO Cathy Ulrich said.
Each facility needed to score at least 85 per cent to be considered in compliance and Northern Health completed the audit with a 90.37 per cent success rate.
"I think the housekeeping staff are proud of what they do and that is demonstrated in the continued improvement," Ulrich said. "Then we as an organization, both at the board level and the executive level, are very proud of the work that the housekeeping staff do."
The strict cleaning standards are in place to ensure that bacteria and other pathogens are kept under control. Outbreaks of drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA or hospital-acquired infections like C-difficile can be dangerous and one of the best ways to prevent them is by proper housekeeping.
Provincial audits have been ongoing for the past eight years and the failure rate in B.C. has fallen from 26 per cent in 2005 to just two per cent this year.
In Northern Health, the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North received the top score at 97.77 per cent, while the University Hospital of Northern B.C. scored 89.20 per cent.
Ulrich said where the audit showed any problems, staff will be diligent to ensure its improved.
One of the tools auditors use is an ultraviolet light marker which they use to mark key contact areas in a room prior to it being cleaned. If properly cleaned, the UV marker will be rubbed off, but if it remains after housekeeping staff have been through they know that a certain area wasn't cleaned well enough.
Northern Health regional director for capital planning and support services Mike Hoefer told the board that staff "break the chain of infection" in three ways: by using friction to wipe them, by spraying bug-killing chemicals and by using cloths which kill bugs on contact.
Hoefer said given Northern Health has so many facilities of varying size, it's all the more impressive Northern Health was able to receive such a high compliance score.
Northern Health board chairman Charles Jago said it's important to recognize the work housekeeping staff do.
"We do see them as part of the healthcare team," Jago said. "They are Northern Health employees, it's not a contracted out service. They are part of staff and their part of providing better healthcare."
