The union representing nursing staff at Noble's Hospital has declared its support for the decision to employ a private contractor for deep cleans.
The Island branch of the Royal College of Nursing says the Department of Health has done the right thing as the removal of cleaning duties will 'release time for care' for nursing staff and other health professionals.
G4S has been awarded a pilot 12 week contract to carry out 'terminal' or deep cleans in wards after patients have suffered serious infections like MRSA, work which is currently carried out by in-house staff.
The Unite union has criticised the decision as a 'duplication of effort' which wasn't consulted upon.
But Verna Phillips, branch secretary of the RCN, says the current system takes resources away from front-line patient care:
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