The Mater Private Hospital Dublin has committed to the Continuous Advancement Programme (CAP) for Housekeeping and Cleaning and achieved the CAP Gold Award at its audit in May, confirming the hospital’s dedication to ensuring the comfort and safety of patients.

As one of the first hospitals in Ireland to be accredited by the world-leading patient-safety organisation Joint Commission International (JCI), and also recognised by the World Health Organisation as the best hospital in Europe for hand hygiene, the Mater Private Dublin is determined to deliver care in a clean and safe environment; a commitment stated in the hospital’s Patient Charter. The new CAP Gold level follows a Bronze awarded after a partial audit undertaken last November, which serves to highlight the hospital’s continuous improvement.

Seeking to continuously improve the environment for patients, their families, and staff, as well as enhancing the overall patient experience, the hospital has now committed to CAP as the most effective approach to achieve its goals. CAP provides expert-driven auditing and positive development support to the healthcare and education sectors, and can offer individually tailored programmes for catering as well as housekeeping. Starting from any level, organisations working with CAP can build on their current standing and move forward year on year.

“This is of enormous credit to the Hospital’s Support Services team and the Housekeeping department,” commented Caroline Whelan, Group Chief Operations Officer at Mater Private Group. “It also helps reinforce that the patient’s health and well-being is at the centre of all we do. Well done to all involved.”

Helping the hospital maintain its high standards is award-winning contract cleaning services provider, Derrycourt. Familiar with all applicable standards, including the Irish government-mandated HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) auditing, Derrycourt provides services to healthcare facilities of all sizes including help to formulate effective procedures and reporting mechanisms and to maintain required documentation.

The CAP Award assessment team visited the hospital on May 15 to carry out the full audit, and examined every aspect of the hospital’s housekeeping activities including policies, schedules and record keeping, as well as prevailing standards of cleanliness in all areas. The hospital occupies a large site and comprises many buildings, and so presents an intense challenge to maintain high standards throughout.

Praising the rapid improvement in the space of just six months, the CAP Chief Assessor, Ian Jackson, commented: “Congratulations to the team and the Hospital. The determination shown is commendable and the thirst for further improvements impressive.” Having achieved its first CAP Gold Award, the hospital is now working to raise the bar even higher through the continuous improvement journey with CAP.