We have experience in a variety of sensitive and challenging environments, from high-care healthcare environments to community child care centres to residential aged care facilities and not-for-profit / government-funded community facilities. We serve as an extension of your team, allowing your staff to focus on their core roles, and giving you one less aspect of facility management you have to think about. We’re passionate about supporting community-focused organisations and not-for-profits as we value the incredible contribution they make to the lives of all Australians, from littlies to centenarians!
When you work with ACW, as client or staff, you become part of the ACW family. As such, we listen carefully to understand your needs, and work with you to deliver clean, safe and welcoming spaces to your clients / residents / families and community stakeholders. We genuinely care about the partnership we form with your team, and the relationship we develop with those who you support.
We train our teams in customer service excellence, managing challenging behaviours, mandatory reporting and of course the best practice processes, methods and tools to deliver amazing quality. We work with you to provide exactly the services you need, within your timeframe and budget, giving you one less thing to manage. And we go hold quarterly business review workshops to review KPIs and reporting, and ensure that we can continue to tailor our approach to your particular site and community cohort.
About ACW Care
Maintenance and cleaning go beyond what you can see – it’s often the unseen elements that can affect quality and safety in Care environments. ACW Care understands that the wellbeing of everyone who uses your facility is your primary concern, and it’s ours too. Providing the best service starts with a genuine level of care. Contact us to learn more about our incredible team and how we can support you!
ACW Care is backed by over 30 years’ professional experience across six specialised divisions. Our management systems are independently audited each year and have been certified against the following international and AU/NZ standards:
Quality
ISO 9001
Occupational Health & Safety
OH&S: AS/NZS 4801
Environment
AS/NZS ISO 14001
ACW Care has the specialised experience required to ensure safe, well-maintained environments.
When it comes to care, hiring a professional facility services company is essential. Not only can the ACW Care team keep your facility safe, well maintained and hygienic, but we also go above and beyond to ensure compliance during government audits. Our reporting and record keeping ensures you have what you need, when you need it, meaning less stress.
What does it mean to ‘clean and maintain with care’?
In some environments, cleaning and maintenance are more about appearances. Not so in the Care sector, providing a safe environment, free from hazards and infection, is paramount to all those who attend, visit, or work in the facility.
Our teams are trained to identify existing risks and potential hazards, and put together a comprehensive corrective and preventative maintenance and cleaning programme to address any issues.
To clean and maintain ‘with care’ means making sure that a facility not only looks good, but it’s hygienic as well. Some cleaning companies will cut corners when it comes to sanitising. These organisations might decrease the frequency or duration of services to minimise costs. But just because a surface looks clean, doesn’t mean it IS clean. We can use swab testing to evaluate the presence of unseen germs and then act accordingly.
If not controlled, bacteria and viruses can spread extremely quickly in care facilities – threatening wellbeing. That’s why working with an experienced facility services company who understands how to clean for health and safety by controlling outbreaks of gastroenteritis and other infectious diseases.
With the ACW Care team, on the other hand, our services go well beyond superficial. We understand best practice in maintenance and repair, and have qualified and licensed trades to help your plant and equipment work efficiently and retain asset value. We also are experts in the methods and cleaning agents required to clean and disinfect the wide variety of surfaces found in care environments, and the optimal frequency for each task.
To clean and maintain with care of course helps with compliance and governance issues, but more importantly, ensures the services you deliver fully support the health and well being of your stakeholders.
ACW Care: A passionate team of care experts
Providing the best service means employing the best staff. To this end, we train our team extensively in several areas, including:
- Industry standards for general excellence and best practice
- Chemical use and dilution in regards to disease control and overall safety
- Working with the vulnerable populations, including mandatory reporting in regards to any observed instances of neglect or abuse of the elderly, children or those with a disability.
We also provide certified Police Checks or Working with Children Checks as required.
We’re also passionate about having the very best, most appropriate equipment. Everything from our power tools to our trolleys to our mops is evaluated for appropriate use in Care facilities and we’re constantly looking out for new, cutting edge equipment and practices to become more efficient and productive.
The importance of compliance in Care facilities and services
An experienced property services company can increase the productivity and viability of your facility. That’s because in Australian care-sector facilities, compliance is key if you wish to avoid hefty fines, penalties or even closures.
For example, the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency (AACQA), Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA), State Dept of Health or local Council can audit your facility at any time – with or without issuing an announcement. When they do, they’ll be evaluating your organisation according to a series of rigid standards across four different categories:
- Management systems – ensuring that your oversight of contractors is effective and detailed
- Services and supports for day-to-day participation in activities relevant to each lifestage
- A safe and well-maintained physical environment
Download our Case Study on how we work with Sacred Heart Mission across more than 20 locations, here:
Most care-sector cleaning companies can help you meet health and personal care standards, as well as physical environment and safety requirements, but few can offer much assistance elsewhere.
That’s where ACW Care is different. Our reporting system is built on seamless record keeping and transparency, and clients tell us it’s more robust than others they’ve seen.
When your facility is audited, you’ll be required to show accurate documentation about your cleaning practices, responses to breakouts and other incidents, and the team you have working in your facility.
Because of our careful record keeping, we’ll have this all compiled and ready to go. According to industry research, record keeping is among the most common challenges in the industry when it comes to compliance. Our independently certified Quality Assurance systems ensure this is a challenge that won’t become a burden.
Our Services
Infection Control
We all know it is essential in aged care facilities, schools and healthcare environments to maintain the highest standard of cleaning to safeguard against an outbreak of COVID-19, gastroenteritis, foot and mouth, influenza or other infections diseases.
ACW Care has established a reputation for controlling such outbreaks with minimal spread and quick response. Our staff have been trained with the necessary knowledge, skills, and work practices to prevent infection and where possible, minimise the transmission of infection.
We have an experienced Infection Control Response Team who are on call 24/7/365 to help minimise the damage of these types of outbreaks.
This includes consulting with your team on the following:
- Restriction of movement within a facility
- Guidance for staff or residents who have symptoms
- Avoiding the transfer of the outbreak
- Cleaning and sanitisation of isolated/ infectious areas / ‘hot zones’
- Appropriate TGA-registered disinfectant selection, usage and storage
- Kitchen sanitisation and disposal of contaminated food
- Decontamination Protocols
The ACW Care Infection Control Response Team is available within 2 – 4 hours of contact. ACW Care has set up this team to provide peace of mind, knowing that they will have immediate support if such an outbreak occurs.
ACW Care Infection Control Response Team provides the following services:
- ‘Zoono’ fogging – corrective or preventative – leaves a microcoating on surfaces that continues to kill viruses and bacteria up to 28 days. TGA Registered against COVID-19.
- ‘Residents’ Room Clean – Full Bleach Down
- Common Area Clean – Full Bleach Down
- Kitchen Bleach – Full Bleach Down
- Carpet Steam Cleaning
- Supply of UV air filtration and disinfection units
Complete Laundry Services
Laundry services are an important part of the full service offering in aged care facilities and child care centres that ACW Care provide.
We understand the importance clean linen and/or clothing which meet all infection control requirements.
Demands for provision of laundry services are calculated according to the types of residents to ensure that we understand the estimated number of kilos of laundry in any one week and therefore how many washing machine and dryer cycles must be delivered.
Our staff work as assistants in the laundry with the following responsibilities:
- Laundry sorting (fabric identification and garment cleaning requirements)
- Cleaning and drying of laundry (including operation of the machines)
- Dispatching laundry items
Supervision
ACW Care’s inspection and monitoring process is managed with the quality plan set-up for a facility. These quality plan requirements are monitored on a weekly basis, by our assigned Contracts Manager via a generated inspection report. This ensures excellence, continuity and compliance.
Cleaning and maintenance team members are also required to sign off their work daily – so that their work can be evaluated regularly by the site team leader, by your dedicated Contracts Manager, and by our QA/Compliance team during scheduled audits.
All Contracts Managers are available 24/7 to address any urgent issues within your facility.
Make a clean start
ACW Care is based in Melbourne, and we have teams nationwide. Reach out now to find out how we can support you in delivering a clean, safe, welcoming and well-maintained environment at your facility. We listen and we care.