This story is part of CBC Health's Second Opinion, a weekly analysis of health and medical science news emailed to subscribers on Saturday mornings. If you haven't subscribed yet, you can do that by clicking here . Cleaning contaminated surfaces in hospitals is critically important to protect patients from drug-resistant superbugs, which are on the rise.
But some infectious diseases experts say recent moves to outsource hospital services could compromise the standards of cleanliness and result in poorer infection controls. In hospitals, cleaning can range from a quick wipe of a door handle to disinfecting sinks to kill microbes or the complete stripping of rooms between patients during an outbreak. Sterilization of surgical instruments happens separately.
One of the latest facilities to consider transitioning to private cleaning is Etobicoke General Hospital in Toronto's west end. The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) representing cleaning and support staff at the hospital held a rally there last week to protest the possible contracting out of cleaning and laundry services. The union says if cleaning staff suffer cutbacks as proposed by William Osler Health System, the network Etobicoke General belongs to, the level of cleanliness could suffer.
Meanwhile, though it's difficult to show a causal link between outsourcing cleaning and an increase in infections, superbug rates in Canadian hospitals have been climbing. But that hasn't deterred facilities from outsourcing cl.
