commercial
Medical and surgery cleaning
Medical cleaning costs £18 to £28 an hour, or £50 to £120 a visit for a typical GP surgery and £40 to £90 for a dental practice. The rate is higher than general commercial work for one reason: the cleaning is part of the practice's infection prevention regime, and it has to be evidenced to an inspector rather than just done.
What this covers
What it costs. Medical cleaning costs £18 to £28 an hour. Full cost breakdown.
What the job covers
- GP surgeries, dental practices and private clinics
- Treatment rooms cleaned to an infection prevention specification
- Colour coded equipment kept to separate areas
- Clinical waste handled and segregated correctly
- Audit records kept for inspection
What is involved
Colour coding is the visible part of the discipline. Cloths and mop heads are separated by area, red for washrooms, blue for general, green for kitchens and food, and yellow for isolation areas, so nothing travels from one to another. It is simple and it is the first thing an auditor looks at, because a single mop used everywhere undoes the rest of the specification.
The records matter as much as the work. A practice being inspected has to show what was cleaned, when, by whom and to what standard, so this corner of the trade runs on signed schedules and audit sheets rather than on a contractor's word. Registered practices are inspected against national expectations for cleanliness, and the cleaning contractor's paperwork is part of what is produced.
Clinical waste is separate from everything else and stays separate. It is segregated at the point it is produced, stored in the right containers and collected by a registered waste carrier, and a cleaning contractor's role is to handle it correctly rather than to dispose of it. Confusion about that boundary is the commonest problem in a small practice.
Choosing someone for the job
Ask to see the colour coding system in use and how it is enforced. It is the quickest read on whether the specification is real.
Ask what records they leave and whether they are set out the way an inspector expects. The paperwork is half of what you are buying.
Ask where their responsibility for clinical waste starts and stops. It should be handling and segregation, with a registered waste carrier taking it away.
Common questions
Why does it cost more than office cleaning?
Because of the specification and the evidence. Treatment rooms have a defined method, equipment is segregated by area, and every visit has to be recorded in a form an inspector will accept.
Who is responsible for clinical waste?
The practice, as the producer. The cleaning contractor handles and segregates it correctly and a registered waste carrier removes it on the right paperwork. A contractor offering to take it away is a warning sign.