Clinical infection-control cleaning is IPC-led cleaning of healthcare environments to nationally defined standards. Optus Glean UK cleans to the NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 and CQC Regulation 12, using BICSc colour-coded equipment, documented method statements, and Enhanced-DBS-checked, PAYE-employed operatives trained to an infection-prevention standard before their first shift.
What IPC-led cleaning means
Infection prevention and control (IPC) cleaning treats every surface as a potential transmission route. It uses two-stage cleaning (clean, then disinfect) with correct contact times, colour-coded equipment to stop cross-contamination, and COSHH-assessed products - the same discipline applied across our wider healthcare cleaning work. Colour-coding follows the BICSc four-colour system: red for sanitary areas, blue for general areas, green for kitchens, yellow for clinical and isolation areas.
The standard: NHS 2025 and FR1-FR6
The National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 apply to all healthcare environments - acute, mental-health, community, primary care, dental, ambulance and care settings - regardless of who provides the cleaning. Every functional area is given a Functional Risk (FR) category from FR1 to FR6, which sets the cleaning frequency, audit frequency, and target score, expressed as a public five-star rating. Our NHS cleaning standards guide explains the framework, and our CQC premises cleaning hub maps it to each setting.
CQC Regulation 12 and infection control
CQC Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) requires a registered provider to assess and control the risk of infection, including healthcare-associated infections. CQC can prosecute a Regulation 12 breach where it exposes a person to significant risk of harm. Our schedules, colour-coding, and audit records give the evidence trail this expects - see how we document it on our CQC-compliance cleaning page and in our CQC cleaning requirements guide.
Colour-coding and cross-contamination control
We apply BICSc colour-coding across cloths, mops, buckets, and gloves so equipment never moves between risk areas, backed by COSHH assessments for every product and a documented method statement for each area type. The full scheme is set out in our colour-coding chart.
Enhanced-checked, directly-employed teams
Cleaning in healthcare and care settings is regulated activity, so operatives hold Enhanced DBS checks (with barred-list checks where required), or the Disclosure Scotland / AccessNI equivalents. Every operative is PAYE-employed and trained to our documented infection-prevention standard before their first shift - the reasoning is set out in our DBS checks for cleaners guide.
NHS 2025 Functional Risk categories (target audit score and frequency)
| FR category | Target audit score | Audit frequency | Typical areas |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR1 | 98% and above | Weekly | Operating theatres, highest-risk clinical |
| FR2 | 95% and above | Monthly | Wards and treatment areas |
| FR3 | 90% and above | Every 2 months | Clinical support areas |
| FR4 | 85% and above | Every 3 months | Significant-risk areas |
| FR5 | 80% and above | Every 6 months | Lower-risk occupied areas |
| FR6 | 75% and above | Every 12 months | Stores, filing, low-risk |