NHS Cleaning Standards 2025: What GP Practices & Care Homes Must Know

What Are the NHS’s 2025 Cleanliness Standards?

In February 2025, NHS England published the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025. These standards provide a consistent, risk-based framework for cleaning across healthcare settings, including NHS Trusts, GP surgeries, care homes, dental practices, and ambulance services.

The 2025 update builds on the 2021 framework and introduces several essential changes:

• Public Star-Rating System: All healthcare providers must display a public-facing cleanliness star rating at main entrances. This mirrors the food hygiene rating system and promotes trust and transparency among patients, staff, and visitors.
• Cleaning Charters and Audit Tools: Each organisation must now publish a cleaning charter and conduct regular audits using NHS-provided templates. These charters clarify roles, responsibilities, and expectations.
• Process-Focused Audits: NHS inspectors will assess whether cleaning is performed correctly, not just whether surfaces appear clean. This includes evaluating technique, frequency, and whether NHS-approved cleaning products are used.
• Six-Level Functional Risk Categories: All areas within a healthcare setting are classified into six risk levels (from Category 1 for high-risk areas like operating rooms, to Category 6 for low-risk areas like administrative offices). Cleaning schedules must align with these classifications.
• Expanded Scope: For the first time, services such as ambulance and patient transport must follow the same cleanliness protocols as clinical areas.

Visit NHS England’s official standards page to download full guidance, audit templates, and risk frameworks.

Care Home Cleaning Standards Under NHS 2025 Guidelines

GP surgeries are increasingly subject to NHS cleanliness expectations. Though often managed independently, GP practices are required to maintain cleaning

Care homes must now meet NHS-aligned standards, with documented task lists, formal audits, and public cleanliness ratings. Over 60 cleaning procedures are outlined in the NHS toolkit, covering everything from mattresses and furnishings to infection control zones.

To support this, IGCHS supplies:

• Professional  Disinfectant or high-grade surface disinfection
• Mop System with colour-coded heads to prevent cross-contamination
• Disposables that include gloves, aprons, and safe-disposal bags

Staff should be trained on the six-tier risk framework, audit sheets should be routinely filled out, and charter posters must be clearly displayed in communal areas.

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NHS Cleaning Compliance for GP Practices in 2025

documentation for Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections and IPC standards.

Requirements include:

• Maintaining a daily healthcare cleaning audit checklist
• Performing annual audits using NHS templates
• Following protocols for PPE use, curtain cleaning, sharps disposal, and high-touch point disinfection

Recommended IG C&HS solutions:

• Hand Sanitiser for effective hand hygiene at points of care

• Hard Surface Cleaning Sprays and Wipes for fast and effective disinfection

• Janitorial tools for appropriate area-specific hygiene routines

Practices should also install star-rating posters in reception areas and digitise cleaning logs to streamline audit readiness.

Health & Safety Infection Control Supplies for Healthcare

The NHS 2025 standards also strengthen requirements for infection control and staff safety. Facilities must:

• Provide CE-marked, fluid-resistant PPE for all cleaning staff
• Conduct regular pest control reviews, especially in food or patient environments
• Use leak-proof, pedal-operated clinical waste bins

The 2025 NHS cleaning standards demand a higher level of diligence and transparency across care homes and GP practices. From public star ratings to process-focused audits and risk-based cleaning schedules, the emphasis is now firmly on measurable, consistent quality.

At IGCHS, we stock a full range of NHS-compliant cleaning chemicals, PPE, mops, audit tools, and spill kits. Whether you’re preparing for a CQC visit or planning an internal audit, our products help ensure your facility meets the latest NHS and IPC requirements.