Practice managers rarely worry about whether the surgery is clean. They worry about whether they can prove it was cleaned, by whom, to what standard, on the day an inspector asks. That is a different problem, and it is solved with paperwork and routine rather than effort.

This page explains how cleaning fits into the CQC framework and what a practice in Manchester can keep on file so the answer is already sitting in a folder. It describes the regulator’s published expectations. It does not assert any accreditation or certification on our part.

Where does cleaning sit in the CQC framework?

The fundamental standards are the standards below which care must never fall. CQC publishes all of them, and cleaning sits squarely inside the one on premises and equipment. The underlying wording comes from regulation 15 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, which requires all premises and equipment used by a provider to be clean, secure, suitable, properly used and properly maintained.

Cleaning also touches two other standards. Safe care and treatment covers infection control as part of managing risk. Good governance covers the systems and records that show you are monitoring quality. That is why an inspector’s question is usually about your records rather than about a skirting board.

What does an inspector actually ask to see?

In a GP surgery or a dental practice, expect questions along these lines.

Who is your infection prevention and control lead?
Where is your cleaning specification and does it separate clinical from non-clinical areas?
Show me this week’s cleaning schedule, signed and dated.
What colour coding do you use and where is the equipment stored?
Where are the COSHH safety data sheets for the products on site?
How often do you audit the clean, and what did the last audit find?
What happened to the actions from that audit?
Who cleans the treatment rooms between patients and what is the process?
How do you clean after a blood or body fluid spillage?
Are your cleaning staff trained, and how is that recorded?

Every one of those is answerable from a folder. None of them are answerable from memory.

Which guidance sits behind the standard?

CQC assesses against the regulations. The detail of good practice comes from published guidance that inspectors recognise.

Source	What it covers
NICE CG139	Infection prevention and control in primary and community care, including standard principles
HTM 01-05	Decontamination in primary care dental practices, published on gov.uk
NHS England national standards of healthcare cleanliness	Functional risk categories, cleaning frequencies and audit scoring
HSE COSHH	Assessment and control of substances hazardous to health, including cleaning chemicals
Your own local IPC policy	How the national guidance is applied in your building

The NHS England standards are written for NHS settings, and a private practice is not obliged to adopt them wholesale. They are still the most useful framework available for setting frequencies by risk and for scoring an audit, so plenty of practices borrow the structure.

What records should a practice keep?

Use this as a checklist. If every line has a home and a current date on it, cleaning will not be the thing that holds up your report.

Written cleaning specification naming every room, every task and every frequency, split into clinical and non-clinical areas.
Daily cleaning schedule with a signature and a date for each shift, kept for at least twelve months.
Periodic schedule for floors, high level dusting, blinds, curtains and upholstery, with completion dates.
Colour coding chart displayed in the cleaning store, matching the equipment actually in use.
COSHH file with a safety data sheet for every product on site and a written assessment for each.
Training records for cleaning staff, including infection control, spillage procedure and safe dilution.
Audit reports, dated, scored, with an action list and evidence of what was closed out.
Spillage and incident log for blood and body fluid events.
Equipment maintenance records for vacuums, machines and any decontamination equipment.
Waste records covering clinical waste consignment notes and segregation.
Vetting confirmation for anyone working unsupervised in the practice. DBS checking is an operator policy, so ask your cleaning supplier to confirm in writing what level of check applies and how often it is repeated.

How do clinical and non-clinical cleaning differ?

Clinical areas are the treatment rooms, the decontamination room in a dental practice, the sluice and any area where instruments are handled. They need dedicated equipment, a defined product and dilution, a recorded frequency that reflects patient throughput, and a clear split of responsibility between clinical staff and the cleaning team.

Non-clinical areas are reception, waiting room, corridors, staff room, offices and washrooms. The tasks look like a good office clean with a higher frequency on touch points and washrooms.

The boundary is where practices get caught out. Write down who cleans the dental chair, who cleans the worktop around it, and who cleans the floor beneath it. An inspector asking “who does this” should get the same answer from the nurse and the cleaner.

What should you ask a cleaning supplier?

Ask for the specification in writing before you sign anything. Ask whether they will supply signed schedules, COSHH sheets and a site risk assessment at mobilisation. Ask who audits and how often, and ask to see a sample audit report. Ask how absence is covered, because an uncovered shift in a surgery is a gap in your records.

Ask about training in clinical settings specifically. Cleaning a treatment room has a sequence and a set of rules that do not apply in an office.

Cleaning your practice in Greater Manchester

We clean clinical and non-clinical areas to a written schedule, with colour coded equipment and records you can hand to an inspector. See medical and dental practice cleaning for how the contract is set up, or the practices we cover around Altrincham.

CQC Cleaning Expectations for Dental and GP Practices