long corridor in hospital with surgical beds

In May, the inaugural Healthcare Cleaning Forum took place at Interclean Amsterdam, initiated in response to a growing communicational gap between the cleaning industry and the realm of healthcare. During the Healthcare Cleaning Forum, professor Didier Pittet launched the Clean Hospitals Industry Platform (CHIP).

The goal of the Healthcare Cleaning Forum was to create awareness about new knowledge and technology that can be used to battle the unique hygiene challenges like infection prevention, that hospitals and other healthcare facilities face. It specifically targeted those who have an influence on the proper management and training of cleaning staff, making it a unique event. Visitors were given a chance to learn from five esteemed professors from different universities and share their concerns and questions on cleaning in the healthcare sector. The topics that were discussed, ranged from new research data on cleaning equipment and methods, to training and motivating staff and increase compliance rates.

“I think we managed to create some awareness about the unique challenges of cleaning and disinfection in healthcare outside of the usual crowd and to help to bridge the gap between cleaning and IPC professionals,” states Jon Otter in his blog.

During setup of the Healthcare Cleaning Forum, the need for more cooperation between these professionals became more visible. The Clean Hospitals Platform aims to be the step forward in aligning the research efforts of the different manufacturers, sharing research information that is already available, and to develop necessary ‘evidence based cleaning’ methods and solutions as an industry, together with the hospitals.

According to Prof. Pittet, “the enthusiasm for this initiative reaffirms the need for communication between the two industries in the long run and also signifies that the platform was introduced at the right place at the right time.”

Interclean supports this initiative.

"I’m excited about how well the platform has been received,” said Rob den Hertog, director of professional cleaning and hygiene for RAI Amsterdam, organizers of Interclean.