Clinical work
Cleaning around a practice that runs long days
A Midland general practice may see patients from seven in the morning to seven at night,
six days a week. That leaves a narrow window, and it is the constraint that shapes the
whole scope.
In practice it means starting after the last patient leaves, which triggers the
after-hours loading in the Cleaning Services Award. We quote that at $64 an hour, or $66
where the clinical protocol applies, rather than quoting a daytime rate we cannot actually
staff. It also means the cleaner needs their own access and alarm code, a documented
sequence so consult rooms are done before the corridors, and a boundary list of what they
do not touch: sharps containers, clinical waste, specimens and anything inside a
sterilising bay.
The practice manager gets a scope document written to go straight into the accreditation
file, the ARTG listing for the disinfectant, current safety data sheets, and a scored
written inspection every month. That package is the reason a clinic changes contractor,
far more often than price is.
What a Midland clinic contract looks like
A worked example from our pricing model: a 180 square metre practice with six consult
rooms, two treatment rooms, reception, a waiting room, two staff areas and three toilets,
cleaned five nights a week, takes two and a half hours a visit. At the clinical rate,
across 21.7 visits a month, with periodics amortised and contract management included,
that is $3,900 plus GST a month.
- Two step clean and disinfect, with contact time observed
- Colour coded cloths, mops and buckets, charted in the cleaner's cupboard
- Named exclusions so nothing clinical is touched by a cleaner
- SDS and chemical register maintained on your site file
- Monthly scored inspection issued in writing