UNITING AGEWELL is a premium aged care organisation for older Australians with 20 aged care residences across Victoria and Tasmania. Uniting AgeWell is a major healthcare organisation that aims to make residents and visitors feel at home.
Exceptional hygiene and safety, in combination with aesthetically pleasing products, were essential to achieve a comfortable environment for all. This led Uniting AgeWell to partner with Rubbermaid Commercial Products (RCP) to ensure the organisation provided a hygienic, healthy and happy environment for residents.
Cleaning Challenge
Uniting AgeWell, a premium aged care organisation for older Australians in Victoria and Tasmania, undertook a marketwide search for a cleaning solution that would help build efficiencies within the cleaning process and offer products that positively contributed to the organisation’s comfortable and welcoming environment.
Uniting AgeWell felt to achieve this they would require a supplier that could provide superior products that streamline the cleaning cycle without cutting corners, effective pre and post implementation training and ongoing support, and superior customer service.
This would facilitate a smooth transition from contract-based cleaners to a controlled in-house cleaning staff model, as well as reduce the risks associated with any cleaning down-time during the transition in their busy aged care sites.
After careful consideration of the current market players, as well as their current service provider, Uniting AgeWell chose to implement a full Rubbermaid Commercial Products’ (RCP) HYGEN system amongst a larger solution for their aged care communities.
Uniting AgeWell felt that RCP met the brief completely, engaging with superior products across the board, exceptional standards of training as well as on-going support.
The Solution
In order to develop a solution that best fit Uniting AgeWell’s needs, a Time and Motion Study was conducted by RCP to obtain a granular understanding of cleaning processes and procedures at Uniting AgeWell’s sites. After a thorough review, RCP was able to develop a product solution and implementation plan that functioned to maximise efficiency and minimise staff and client risk.
RCP offered a comprehensive and flexible solution that also benefited them further as it allowed Uniting AgeWell to shift from using cleaning contractors to an in-house model. This change resulted in a responsive approach to client requests and increased control over product selection and ordering; two factors that are crucial when hygiene and reactivity are a top priority.
“Rubbermaid Commercial Products went above and beyond to understand the daily functions of our organisation, ensuring they put together a solution that was tailor made to our needs,” said Melissa Nicholson, Uniting AgeWell’s Senior Hotel Services Manager. “The support and training they gave us was incredibly detailed, visiting our sites pre and post implementation to ensure they fully understood how they could help us and what improvements could be made in an on-going capacity.”
Implementation
From the plan developed off the back of the Time and Motion study, RCP was able to build and apply their entire solution within 2 weeks, ensuring a smooth transition with no downtime. The implementation included many items from the RCP range. These included the reusable HYGEN Microfibre Cloths as well as the HYGEN Disposable Microfibre System. Also purchased and onboarded were the high capacity cleaning carts, the high and low dusting equipment and cleaning hardware. This complete system provided a superior, hygienic and safe end-to-end cleaning cycle for Uniting AgeWell residents and staff.
Return on Investment
As a direct result of the implementation of the new RCP solution, Uniting AgeWell has been able to increase the total number of rooms cleaned in a 6 hour period by 129 per cent (from 14 to 32 rooms). High touch point areas (phones, door handles, remote controls etc.) that were found to be cleaned thoroughly 33 per cent of the time prior to the solution have now seen an increase to over 88 per cent. A single cleaner is now able to clean a whole wing within the one shift – something that simply wasn’t possible prior to RCP’s HYGEN solution being implemented.
RCP implemented a truly holistic solution by providing training and support that commenced months prior to the products being rolled out. Staff from both RCP and Uniting AgeWell worked together to establish the best methods of cleaning for various environments and the most efficient ways to complete the job. RCP also observes the cleaners to ensure the correct procedures are followed so that the newly introduced cleaning cycle reaches its maximum potential.
Nicholson said, “The support and training RCP give us is incredibly detailed. They visit our sites regularly and observe what the cleaners are doing during an average shift with the new technology they brought on board to ensure the correct procedures are being followed. This also ensures old habits are being corrected and staff are being educated as to why new procedures are integral to meet the organisation’s objectives.”
“As a direct result of the success we have had with Rubbermaid Commercial Products within 8 of our sites, Uniting AgeWell will continue to implement Rubbermaid Commercial Products across another 12 of our sites,” she said.
Read more about this implementation in the full case study below.
