Licenced to clean after intense 12-month course
Licenced to clean.
That’s Fay Stavrogiannopoulou and Anna Piotrowska, who have become the first Solent NHS Estates and Facilities team members to go through a rigorous 12-month course testing their cleaning skills and knowledge.
Everything from the concentration of cleaning chemicals and damp mopping skills to cross contamination risks and customer service were scrutinised during assessments by the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc).
Now the pair, based at Western Community Hospital, Southampton, have been awarded their prestigious BICSc cleaning licences – meaning they are qualified to train colleagues to the same exacting standards.
Fay, Assistant FM Audit and Compliance Manager, who has been with Solent for over a year, was keen to start her BICSc training to support her teams.
“The course was intense but really worthwhile; we are both glad we did it and were grateful for the opportunity,” she said.
“We had around 40 hours of reading to complete, which we did separately, but we were able to prepare together for the assessments, which was a big help.”
Housekeeping Supervisor Anna, who has worked for the Trust for nearly four years including throughout the covid pandemic, completed the course to support the cleaning audits that are carried out regularly across Solent’s hospitals and health buildings.
“Although the practical skills are things our teams do every day, it is quite nerve-wracking when every tiny detail is being studied during a two-and-a-half hour assessment,” she said.
“Now we are accredited trainers, we are looking forward to sharing everything with our teams to make sure everyone is cleaning to the same very high level.”
Both Fay and Anna already have full-time jobs managing many teams across both the Western Community Hospital and Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton, so fitting in all their studying and practical assessments was no mean feat.
The licence, which is a formal qualification for the cleaning industry, means the pair are able to both clean and train.
Head of department Hazel Read, FM Support Services Manager, said: “I am really proud of Fay and Anna for achieving this qualification. Both have very full-on roles and I know it was a challenge for them to study at the same time.
“Our aim now is to ask all housekeeping supervisors to complete the BICSc training programme as part of our mission to ensure a high standard of cleanliness and training across our teams.”
