Healthcare cleaning is infection-prevention cleaning delivered to defined national standards. Optus Glean UK cleans hospitals, clinics, GP and dental surgeries, and care settings to the NHS National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 and CQC Regulations 12 and 15, using Enhanced-DBS-checked, PAYE-employed operatives and BICSc colour-coded equipment.
The standard we clean to: NHS 2025
The National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025 apply to all healthcare environments — acute hospitals, mental-health and community settings, primary care, dental, ambulance services, and care homes — regardless of who provides the cleaning. Every functional area is assigned a Functional Risk (FR) category from FR1 to FR6, which sets the cleaning frequency, the audit frequency, and the target score.
Functional Risk categories and audit scores
The FR category determines the standard each area is held to. High-risk clinical areas are cleaned and audited most often, with the highest target scores, and results are expressed as a public-facing five-star rating against the target.
CQC Regulations 12 and 15
For CQC-registered providers, cleaning is part of two regulated activities. Regulation 15 (Premises and equipment) requires premises to be clean, suitable, and properly maintained; Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) requires the provider to assess and control the risk of infection. CQC can prosecute a Regulation 12 breach where it exposes a person to significant risk of harm. Our cleaning schedules, colour-coding, and monitoring records give inspectors the evidence trail both regulations expect.
Colour-coding and infection control
We use the BICSc four-colour system — red for sanitary areas, blue for general lower-risk areas, green for kitchens, and yellow for clinical and isolation areas — to prevent cross-contamination, backed by COSHH assessments for every product and documented method statements for each area type.
Enhanced-checked, directly-employed staff
Cleaners on healthcare and care contracts are in regulated activity, so they 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.