By Keith Watts

GJK Facility Services has been awarded the cleaning services contract for the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC), a purpose-built centre-of-excellence for cancer research, treatment, education and care located in Melbourne’s prestigious Parkville Biomedical Precinct.

The 130,000sqm centre is home to cancer research, clinical services and educational facilities for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (Peter Mac), Melbourne Health and the University of Melbourne.

The cleaning covers approximately 80 per cent of the facility and includes theatres, PC2 and Grade D laboratories, same day medical, office spaces, staff facilities, cytotoxic pharmacy, cell therapies and patient accommodation to name a few.

Public-private partnership

Delivered under a public-private partnership, the Victorian Government contracted the Plenary Health consortium comprising Plenary Group, builder joint venture Grocon PCL and facilities manager Honeywell to design, build, finance and maintain the project under a 25-year concession.

Managing director of GJK George Stamas said: “it’s very much a partnership approach with Plenary Health. The VCCC aims to become one of the top 10 facilities of its kind in the world, and we are tasked not only with the stringent guidelines in relation to cleanliness but also contributing to the longevity of all assets we are responsible for. We are very proud to be aligned with Plenary Health.”

Start up and builder’s clean – specialised and intense cleaning

Martie Thompson, health portfolio manager, explained: “having won the tender with Honeywell for the daily cleaning of the hospital GJK was then invited to tender and partner with Grocon PCL to complete the builders clean. This would enable GJK to transition into the main contract with the Facility Management efficiently.”

The builder’s clean involved cleaning the newly constructed hospital to the cleanliness standards aligned with the tenants’ expectations. There were two phases of the builders clean that align with major project milestones, Technical Completion and Commercial Acceptance.

The Technical Completion milestone entailed a facility wide final clean for all building interior elements and Commercial Acceptance also included a facility wide final clean which also involved Pharmaceutical TGA-accredited spaces and final clinical cleans.

GJK provided cleaning reports and audits that were in accordance with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services’ cleaning standards for Victorian health facilities. Pharmaceutical TGA-accredited spaces required air particle count levels as part of the cleaning assessment. In addition, it also included microbiological testing to verify the cleanliness of the space.

GJK had to complete clinical and sterile cleans for a number of accredited spaces that required stringent cleanliness requirements and meet the nominated standards set by the Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) Pharmaceutical Clean Room Standards. This involves the cleaners wearing special gowns with no hair or skin exposed.

The challenge

With the emergence of antibiotic-resistant healthcare-associated infections in many Victorian facilities, it is imperative that cleaning standards are maintained to mitigate risks for infection in cancer patients.

“The challenge is to always understand and meet our clients’ expectations to comply with the Infection Prevention Guidelines and pass the Cleaning Standards for Victorian Public Hospitals” said Martie.

“We work closely with Honeywell and Peter Mac to deliver a successful contract. We have to get it right as there is no room for error. The biggest challenge is to present the hospital in a pristine state every day for the length of the contract. Working closely with Honeywell and having a good relationship with its facilities management is a great help. It is a great opportunity for us to be involved with VCCC.”

www.gjkfacilityservices.com.au

This first appeared in the January/February 2017 edition of INCLEAN magazine. To subscribe, click here.