Whitegate Drive Health Centre
The Whitegate Health Centre in Blackpool is one of a number of Health Centres/Clinics in which we provide services. Whitegate, a three storey ‘Walk in’ Centre measuring 80,000 sq ft, opened in 2009 and was a ground breaker in the North West. Services in the thirteen departments include:
- – GP Surgeries
- – OR for minor surgery
- – Extensive Radiology services including X Ray and MRI scanners
- – Sexual Health Clinic
- – Children & Adolescent Mental Health Services
- – Minor Injuries
The Centre was built by Eric Wright Construction under a 30 year PFI, with the ongoing running of the building being undertaken by Eric Wright FM. Tenon have had a long term working partnership with Eric Wright and assumed responsibility for all the soft services at the time or reopening.
The facility is open every day of the year from 09:00 to 22:00 and receives hundreds of patients every day.
Tenon has a team of 12 permanent staff delivering an average of 300 hours cleaning time each week led by a non-working supervisor. The very high numbers of visitors and the long opening hours make using equipment something of a challenge so our suppliers had to concentrate on supplying machines that make very little noise.
Our soft FM remit includes all internal and external aspects of the building.
As we have moved in to the era of C19, the operational requirements have become more stringent but the team has risen to the challenge brilliantly well. At an early stage we secured sufficient quantities of PPE to ensure the safety of our staff. This included face protection, gloves, and aprons. Perhaps the biggest change in the team has been the need to show great levels of flexibility in responding to the need for ‘deep cleans’ sometimes at very short notice.
In order to ensure and prove our achievement of protective cleaning we stepped up our output audits across the building. Samples of our audit process are attached this method statement. Our results have been maintained between 98.15% and 99%. This performance is testimony to the dedication and professionalism of our team.
How did we achieve these really good results? It is clear to us that our recruitment process has worked well. Our selection of candidates, based not just on ability but also on determining the right personality, has been a major influence on our outcomes.
More particularly, we have chosen the path of talking with our staff. It might be thought this approach would be self-evident but when we started the approach several years ago, it became clear that cleaners had not previously been spoken to very much at all. Because we have made the effort to talk with and understand our staff, they have reciprocated by showing initiative and imagination in dealing with the extraordinary times in which we find ourselves. We will be continuing with the very basic and humane approach.
