CQC premises cleaning is the cleaning that helps a CQC-registered provider satisfy Regulation 15 (clean, suitable premises) and Regulation 12 (infection prevention and control). Optus Glean UK cleans every registered premises type to those two regulations, audited against the NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 (FR1–FR6, five-star rating), using Enhanced-DBS-checked, PAYE-employed staff.
What does CQC require for cleaning?
For any CQC-registered provider, cleaning sits inside two regulated requirements under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Regulation 15 (Premises and equipment) requires premises and equipment to be clean, secure, suitable for purpose, properly used and maintained, with hygiene standards appropriate to their use — and expects an appropriate cleaning schedule, monitoring of cleanliness, and cleaning staff who are trained. Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) requires the provider to assess, detect, prevent and control the spread of infections, including healthcare-associated infections.
The regulations bite differently. CQC cannot prosecute for a breach of Regulation 15 alone, but it can take other regulatory action and must refuse registration where compliance cannot be satisfied. CQC can prosecute for a breach of Regulation 12 where a failure results in avoidable harm or exposes a person to a significant risk of harm — no warning notice required first. That is why a documented, audited cleaning regime is not administrative box-ticking; it is regulatory evidence. Our healthcare cleaning service is built to produce that evidence.
The standard your cleaning is measured against: NHS 2025
The NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 apply to all healthcare environments — acute and mental-health hospitals, community and primary care, dental, ambulance services and care homes — regardless of who provides the cleaning. Every functional area is assigned a Functional Risk category from FR1 to FR6, and that category sets the cleaning frequency, the audit frequency and the target audit score. It is the yardstick a CQC inspector, and any NHS or local-authority commissioner, will recognise.
Functional Risk categories and the five-star rating
The FR category decides how hard each area is held. FR1 (highest-risk clinical areas such as treatment rooms) targets 98% and is audited weekly; FR2 targets 95%; FR3 90%; FR4 85%; FR5 80%; and FR6 (lowest-risk areas such as stores) targets 75% and is audited annually. Results are published as a public-facing five-star rating: five stars for meeting or beating the target, down to one star for 10% or more below. Any area at three stars or fewer needs a written improvement plan with agreed timescales.
Which CQC-registered premises do you clean?
We clean the full CQC-registered estate. Each premises type carries its own risk profile and cleaning specification, but all are delivered to Regulations 12 and 15 and audited against the NHS 2025 standard:
- Hospital cleaning (NHS acute and community)
- Private hospital cleaning
- GP surgery cleaning
- Dental practice cleaning
- Clinic and day-surgery cleaning
- Dialysis unit cleaning
- Mental-health facility cleaning
- Hospice cleaning
- Care home cleaning
- Nursing home cleaning
- Supported living cleaning
- Domiciliary care cleaning
- Extra-care and sheltered housing cleaning
How our cleaning gives inspectors an evidence trail
Both regulations expect a provider to show, not merely assert, that premises are clean and infection risk is controlled. We supply the paper trail: area-by-area cleaning schedules mapped to FR categories, BICSc colour-coding records (red for sanitary, blue for general low-risk, green for kitchens, yellow for clinical and isolation areas), COSHH assessments for every product, method statements per area type, and monitoring and audit results against the NHS five-star targets. When CQC inspects, the practice or registered manager has the documentation Regulations 12 and 15 call for already assembled.
Enhanced-DBS, directly-employed cleaning teams
Cleaning in a CQC-registered setting is regulated activity, so our operatives hold Enhanced DBS checks (with barred-list checks where the role requires them), or the Disclosure Scotland (PVG) and AccessNI equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Every cleaner is PAYE-employed on guaranteed hours — never gig or self-employed labour — and trained to our documented infection-prevention standard before their first shift. A named primary cleaner and a named relief mean cover is built in, so the FR2 daily clean still happens when someone is off.
One contract across a multi-site provider
Registered providers rarely run a single building. A hospital trust, a care group or a GP federation needs the same documented standard in every location. Optus Glean UK delivers it as one contract, one specification, one account manager and one consolidated invoice across every site — the national alternative to vetting a different local cleaner in each town. See multi-site cleaning for how we mobilise groups of premises together.
NHS 2025 Functional Risk categories (applied to CQC premises)
| FR category | Target audit score | Audit frequency | Typical area |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR1 | 98% and above | Weekly | Treatment / minor-ops rooms, theatres |
| FR2 | 95% and above | Monthly | Consulting rooms, wards, clinical areas |
| FR3 | 90% and above | Every 2 months | Clean utility, sub-wait areas |
| FR4 | 85% and above | Every 3 months | Waiting rooms, reception, corridors |
| FR5 | 80% and above | Every 6 months | Offices, staff rooms |
| FR6 | 75% and above | Every 12 months | Stores, plant, filing |