Overview

With a vision for people at the end of their lives to have access to quality, compassionate care when and where they need it, Mary Potter Hospice offers palliative care to patients, their families, and their caregivers at a very vulnerable time in their lives.

OCS New Zealand has contributed to this picture for over 15 years, providing cleaning services within an environment that offers up a unique set of challenges and sensitivities when dealing with human suffering (emotional and physical) and end-of-life care.

The need

Mary Potter Hospice needed a contractor that would treat each of their spaces with respect, especially those areas that came into direct contact with patients and their families. The OCS values of Expert, Safety, Trustworthy, and especially Care, are of utmost importance when walking the same corridors as the people in such a vulnerable place in their lives.

As a health care provider, Mary Potter Hospice understandably places a high level of importance on the cleanliness of its facilities.

Not only is this important for the health and safety of each patient, but the presentation of their facilities also has a direct and measurable impact on the satisfaction of its patients and their families and whānau.

Within the large 1,900m2 space there are numerous spaces to maintain, including:

• Patient rooms
• Offices
• Reception
• Washrooms
• Breakout areas
• Conference and meeting rooms
• Sluice rooms
• Isolation rooms

Additional services include outbreak periodic cleans, cleanroom services, blood and body spill, interior window cleaning, hard floor maintenance, carpet cleaning, upholstery and curtain cleaning and periodic maintenance and spring cleaning.

The OCS solution

OCS provide the essential services needed for Mary Potter Hospice to continue to deliver the best patient care, performing these core cleaning duties in a unique environment that centres around ‘care’.

A team of five dedicated team members were handpicked to work on the Mary Potter Hospice site. Criteria went beyond their experience as cleaners (although that was important too) but we needed to ensure their capability to provide genuine empathy and the emotional intelligence required to deal working in such a sensitive environment. Other factors included demonstrated capability of embracing open emotional, spiritual and cultural thinking and a level of skill and training due to the in-depth cleaning methods required to ensure optimal health and hygiene standards.

Of importance to Mary Potter Hospice is having a cleaning provider that provides a high level of attention to detail, offers proven hygiene and cleaning practices, and above all else, ensures excellent communication at all times. The OCS team ensure they are in regular contact with their Hospice colleagues, including meeting with the wider team early each morning to discuss any requirements that may have cropped up from the day before.

Our hygiene regimes focus on infection control, which means our cleaning team are trained in the prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections and follow industry best practice, including isolation cleaning, PPE and hand hygiene. Our steam cleaning, colour-coded microfibre cloth system and team cleaning practices help us to maintain these high standards.

But we’re more than a service provider. We believe our people should enhance the experience of your patients, staff and visitors. That’s why our team are trained in mental health awareness, first aid and conflict management.

Our customers also benefit from the expertise of our healthcare colleagues around the world, brought together in our Centre of Excellence.

Partnership made personal

At OCS, we work with our healthcare customers to identify all risk categories and adapt our approach to each area accordingly. At Mary Potter Hospice, we work side-by-side with the Infection Control Coordinator as they conduct their audit. Our relationship is such that we discuss any ideas for improvement. Where improvements need to be made, OCS team members apply a can-do attitude to implement new initiatives

Meeting on-going needs

OCS has formed a strong relationship with Mary Potter Hospice following years of working together to achieve the best for its patients and their families.

COVID-19 saw a step up in hygiene cleaning, particularly undertaking high touch-point sanitising throughout the Hospice. This was important to provide reassurance to emotionally drained families as much as anything.

Communication remains key and we meet regularly with Mary Potter Hospice to ensure Quality Assurance and to discuss changing needs. Our teams undergo regular training too – ensuring they’re both mentally ready and well trained to deal with the challenges of a hygiene-critical environment.

Over the years our team have seen many changes at the Hospice but one thing remains the same – the utmost respect and care that patients and their families receive. We are proud to be able to do our part and feel it is a privilege to work with the Mary Potter Hospice team helping delivery the best possible outcomes for our customer and their patients and families.