ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

Paramedics in the North West of England are concerned about a management decision to end their ambulance cleaning contract, claiming it will have a negative impact on response times.

North West Ambulance Service vehicles have been cleaned between jobs by JPR Solutions throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. But following a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis the NWAS claims this service is no longer affordable.

Paramedics are unhappy with the decision, claiming it will lead to delays in attending 999 calls because they will have to stop and clean the vehicles themselves after dropping a patient off at hospital.

They are also concerned that the move will be a blow to morale and fear cleaning standards will suffer as a result.

"Having the vehicles cleaned gave us a bit of time to do a safeguarding referral or finish our paperwork," said one North West Ambulance Service paramedic.

"It also gave us time to speak to patients' family members, clean ourselves and our personal equipment up - and most importantly to try and process whatever horrific situation you have just dealt with in order to be OK to go to the next job.

"The cleaning was to an excellent standard - and this took a small amount of pressure off an already exhausted workforce."

The paramedics claim 999 callouts are now rising, piling further pressure on the already overstretched service. And they fear that a lack of available cleaning supplies will oblige crews to return to the ambulance station between callouts, wasting valuable time between calls.