Housekeeping

Domestic service staff work in both clinical and non-clinical areas throughout the NHS. They have a very important role making sure that all areas are kept hygienically clean and remain a safe environment to work in.

The domestic’s job is to help prevent the risk and spread of infection especially in areas where members of staff care for patients. Cleanliness is extremely important and maintained on a daily basis. Many domestic service assistants have contact with patients and will require a basic level of customer service experience. This can help make the patient experience more pleasant.

Domestic services staff work in various settings and areas throughout the NHS, both clinical and non-clinical. They are likely to come into contact with patients, depending on where they work. Supervisors and team leaders may have some contact with patients. Managers may have little or no patient contact.

A domestic (or domestic services assistant) will carry out routine cleaning tasks which need to be done on a daily or weekly basis, this could include:

• dusting surfaces, furniture and equipment
• cleaning hard floors with mops or electric floor cleaners
• using vacuum cleaners or carpet cleaners
• cleaning toilet and bathroom areas
• steam cleaning
• emptying waste bins
• carry out regular, planned deep cleaning on a monthly or annual basis