Robots introduced to help clean floors at two Welsh hospitals

Mark Mansfield

Robots are being used to clean floors at two Welsh hospitals in a move aimed at freeing up housekeeping staff for more detailed work.

The automated cleaners have been introduced at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and University Hospital Llandough in the Vale of Glamorgan, where they have covered more than 246,000 square metres of floor space in their first three months.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said the machines were introduced in May and are being used in corridors and departments across both sites.

They are intended to work alongside housekeeping staff rather than replace them, taking on routine floor cleaning while employees concentrate on other tasks and higher-priority clinical areas.

The health board said cleaning hospital corridors manually can take a member of staff up to four hours, while department floors can take between two and three hours.

Using the robots can cut the time required by around half, according to the health board.

The machines use sensors and pre-programmed routes to navigate the hospitals and can sweep floors, scrub hard surfaces and collect dirty water.

They are designed to detect and avoid obstacles in busy areas and will stop automatically if a person or object moves into their path.

The health board said reducing the amount of repetitive floor cleaning undertaken by housekeeping staff could also reduce physical strain.

Geoff Walsh, Director of Capital, Estates and Facilities, said: “Capital, Estates and Facilities continues to explore new technologies that can help improve efficiency and maintain standards across our hospital sites.

“The introduction of the new automated floor cleaning robots are already providing significant benefit to housekeeping colleagues, allowing them to focus on other priorities, including providing support in areas affected by Infection, Prevention and Control outbreaks.

“I would like to thank our Housekeeping leads for identifying and evaluating this relatively new technology, which is already making a positive difference to the service they provide.”

The health board said the robots would continue to support housekeeping teams across both hospital sites.

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