The Optus Glean promise: predictability
Three pillars. Three commitments. No exceptions.
Predictable cost. One fixed monthly fee, set against a defined scope and an annual indexed review. No variable hours. No surprise invoices. No padded callout charges. Budgeted once, paid by Direct Debit, reviewed once a year.
Predictable presence. The site is cleaned every day it is meant to be cleaned. A named primary cleaner is rostered to your contract, supported by a named relief who is already vetted, inducted, and trained on the same colour-coded system and IPC standard. The schedule does not depend on whether one person is available on one day.
Predictable freedom. A single point of accountability. One contract. One named manager. One number to call. Cleaning is no longer a problem the Practice has to manage — it is a service that runs.
Why cleaning in Ireland is structurally hard to get right
Most cleaning provision in Ireland — including in healthcare-adjacent settings — is delivered by a workforce that is structurally part-time and casual. A significant proportion of operatives across the sector also work as healthcare assistants in nursing homes, residential care, and acute hospitals. Cleaning shifts are typically taken when healthcare shifts are not available, and released when they are. This pattern is consistent with CSO labour data on accommodation, food, and administrative-support employment, and it is the underlying reason that buyers across Ireland encounter inconsistency from agencies they have contracted in good faith.
The pattern is reinforced by two background pressures specific to Ireland. Housing affordability limits the catchment for any role paying at or near the minimum wage. The Contract Cleaning Employment Regulation Order rate of €14.80 per hour for 2026, set under the Labour Court's sectoral employment framework, sits close enough to flexible care-sector pay that operatives drift toward whichever shift pays slightly more on the day. Both pressures pull cleaning staff away from contracted shifts and toward casual healthcare work.
The result, from the buyer's perspective, is the experience most practice managers, facilities leads, and procurement officers in Ireland describe: a clean that is half-completed when the contracted cleaner is available, missed entirely when they are not, and accompanied by recurring conversations with the agency about cover that may or may not arrive.
This is the structural problem Optus Glean is built to solve. Our operatives are fully PAYE-employed with guaranteed weekly hours, paid leave, and pension contributions under Irish auto-enrolment. They are paid above the ERO floor deliberately — because the structural reliability of the service depends on the cleaner choosing to remain in the role rather than rotating through casual healthcare shifts. A named primary cleaner is assigned to your site, supported by a named relief, both Garda-vetted and trained to Optus Glean's documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard.
Why Dental Surgeries Need Specialist Cleaning
Dental practices are clinical environments where blood, saliva, and aerosols are generated during treatment. The risk of cross-contamination between patients is real and significant. Bloodborne viruses including Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, and HIV can survive on surfaces for hours or days depending on conditions. Standard commercial cleaning is simply inadequate for this environment.
The Dental Council of Ireland and HIQA both set standards for infection prevention and control in dental practices. HIQA's National Standards for Infection Prevention and Control in Community Services apply to dental practices and are enforced through an inspection regime. A dental practice that cannot demonstrate a professional, documented cleaning programme is at risk during any HIQA inspection.
Optus Glean provides clinical-grade cleaning for dental practices across Ireland. Our operatives are specifically trained in IPC for dental environments, understand the distinction between clinical and non-clinical zones, and deliver the documented evidence that HIQA inspections require.
Surgery Room Cleaning
Each dental surgery room receives a terminal clean at the end of every clinical day. This is a comprehensive, systematic clean that covers every surface in the room.
- Dental chair: all surfaces including headrest, armrests, base, foot controls, and upholstery
- Dental unit: bracket tray, three-in-one syringe holder, handpiece holders, and control panel
- Operating light: handle, head, and arm surfaces
- Work surfaces: counters, trolleys, and preparation areas
- Cabinetry: external surfaces, handles, and drawer fronts
- Sinks and hand wash stations: basin, taps, soap dispenser, and surround
- Spittoon and suction tubing exterior
- Floor: mopped with hospital-grade disinfectant from clean to dirty
- Walls: spot cleaned (splatter marks) and fully wiped during monthly deep clean
- High-touch points: light switches, door handles, computer keyboard and mouse
All products used in surgery rooms are hospital-grade disinfectants effective against bloodborne pathogens including HBV, HCV, and HIV. Single-use cloths are used in clinical areas and disposed of as clinical waste after each room.
Decontamination Room Cleaning
The decontamination room is where used instruments go through the receive, clean, inspect, package, and sterilise cycle. It is arguably the most important room in the practice from an IPC perspective. The room must maintain strict separation between dirty and clean zones.
Our decontamination room cleaning covers:
- Dirty zone: receive surfaces, sink, and ultrasonic bath exterior cleaned and disinfected
- Clean zone: inspection area, packaging surface, and storage shelving cleaned
- Autoclave and washer-disinfector: external surfaces cleaned (internal maintenance by dental team)
- Floor: mopped from clean zone to dirty zone
- Waste: clinical waste bins checked, liners replaced
- Documentation: decontamination room cleaning recorded separately
We maintain the dirty-to-clean workflow direction during our cleaning, and our operatives understand not to cross-contaminate between zones.
Waiting Area and Reception
The waiting area is a patient's first impression of your practice. It must be clean, fresh, and inviting. But it is also a shared space where patients with different health conditions sit in close proximity, particularly during flu season and respiratory virus outbreaks.
- Seating: all surfaces wiped and sanitised between morning and afternoon sessions
- Reception desk: counter, screen, and check-in area cleaned
- Floor: vacuumed and mopped
- Magazines and leaflets: tidied (we recommend disposable or digital alternatives)
- Children's play area (if applicable): toys sanitised, surfaces wiped
- Washroom: full deep clean with consumable replenishment
- Entrance: glass doors cleaned, mat vacuumed
Dental Surgery Cleaning Pricing
| Service | Price Range | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Daily cleaning (single-chair practice) | €400 – €600/month | Surgery + decontam + reception, 5 days |
| Daily cleaning (2-3 chair practice) | €600 – €850/month | Multiple surgeries, 5 days/week |
| Daily cleaning (large dental clinic) | €850 – €1,200/month | 4+ chairs, specialist rooms |
| Quarterly deep clean | €300 – €700 | Behind cabinetry, ceiling, vents |
Note: Prices exclusive of VAT. Clinical-grade cleaning costs more than standard commercial cleaning due to specialist products, training, documentation, and single-use materials.
HIQA Compliance and Documentation
Optus Glean provides a complete IPC documentation package for every dental client. This includes a room-by-room cleaning schedule, date-stamped and signed cleaning logs, chemical safety data sheets, operative IPC training certificates, and quarterly cleaning audit reports. This documentation integrates directly with your practice's IPC file and is ready for HIQA inspection at any time. We also provide a designated account manager for each dental client who conducts quarterly quality audits and reviews the cleaning specification as your practice evolves.
Serving Dental Practices Across Ireland
Ireland has approximately 2,200 dental practices. From single-chair practices in rural towns to large multi-chair dental clinics in cities, Optus Glean provides the clinical-grade cleaning that dental practices require. We serve general dental practitioners, orthodontic practices, oral surgery clinics, periodontal practices, endodontic practices, and dental hygienist clinics. Our after-hours scheduling ensures cleaning happens after the last patient, with no disruption to clinical appointments.
Frequently asked questions
How much does dental practice cleaning cost in Ireland in 2026?
A dental practice is priced as a fixed monthly fee per site, scoped to surgeries, decontamination room, reception, staff areas and washrooms, with surgery turnaround windows tied to the appointment book. The Contract Cleaning ERO 2026 sets a €14.80/hour labour floor across the sector, but reputable providers price the contract on a multi-year term with an annual indexed review and a single monthly Direct Debit, not per hour.
What standards apply to dental cleaning in Ireland?
The IDA cross-infection control guidelines, HPSC Guidelines for Hand Hygiene, and the HSE primary-care cleaning guidance, all overseen against the Dental Council's professional standards. The cleaning programme must respect the surgery / decontamination boundary, use validated disinfectants with documented contact times, and produce an audit trail that supports the practice's own compliance file.
How does cleaning fit around a dental appointment book?
A dental contract should specify between-patient reset standards (delivered by clinical staff), end-of-session surgery turnaround (delivered by the cleaning team), and out-of-hours deep clean of communal and non-clinical areas. The cleaning provider works to fixed windows agreed with the practice manager — never during patient flow. Disruption to the appointment book is a contract failure, not an inconvenience.
What's the difference between PAYE and casual cleaning contracts in dental?
A PAYE-employed cleaner is on payroll with the company that signs the contract, paid above the Contract Cleaning ERO €14.80/hour floor, Garda-vetted, and assigned as a named primary cleaner with a named relief. A casual or self-employed operative is on no employer's books, has no continuity to the practice, and rotates between sites. PAYE staffing is the only structural basis for a named cleaner who actually understands your surgery / decontamination boundary on week 50 of the contract.
Who handles clinical waste and amalgam at a dental practice?
Healthcare-risk waste, sharps, and amalgam are handled by a licensed healthcare-waste contractor under the Waste Management Acts 1996-2023 and the relevant amalgam-separator regulations, not by the cleaning provider. The cleaning team's role is environmental cleaning of waste-holding areas and sharps awareness — never handling sharps directly.
How do I evaluate a cleaning provider for a dental practice?
Ask whether the cleaners are PAYE-employed, who the named primary cleaner and named relief are for your site, and whether the provider can produce a written method statement that explicitly identifies the surgery / decontamination boundary and the order of work across that boundary. If they cannot articulate that boundary, they cannot clean a dental practice.
What should be in a cleaning contract for a dental practice?
Defined scope per surgery, decontamination room, reception and staff areas. Frequencies tied to session-end turnarounds. A method statement that respects the surgery / decontamination boundary. The chemical regime with SDS. Named primary cleaner and named relief. Garda vetting confirmation. Fixed monthly fee. Annual indexed review. A clean exit clause. No per-hour pricing.
What's the difference between routine cleaning and instrument-area cleaning?
Routine cleaning is environmental — floors, surfaces, washrooms, waste areas — delivered by the cleaning provider on the contracted programme. Instrument-area cleaning, surgery between-patient reset, and decontamination of dental instruments sit with clinical staff under IDA cross-infection control guidelines and HPSC standards. A reputable cleaning contract draws that line in writing.
How Optus Glean handles staff shortages
Every Optus Glean contract is staffed on a redundancy model rather than a single-person model. A named primary cleaner is assigned to the site at contract start. A named relief is assigned alongside them. Both are PAYE-employed by Optus Glean, both are Garda-vetted, both are inducted on the site's specific layout, access protocols, and colour-coded equipment system, and both are trained to the same documented HIQA-aligned IPC standard. Substitution is built into the contract from the first day, not arranged on the day cover is needed.
Sick day cover. When the primary cleaner is unable to work, the named relief is deployed. The Practice site contact is notified by 06:30 on the morning of the absence by SMS or email, with the name of the relief who is attending. The relief follows the same task list, uses the same equipment, and finishes within the same window. The standard of clean is unchanged because the relief was prepared for this scenario before the absence happened.
Annual leave cover. Annual leave is rostered weeks in advance and the relief is scheduled to cover the full leave period. The Practice is informed at the start of the leave period — not on the morning leave begins. This is the same model used in clinical rota management: known absences are pre-staffed, not improvised.
Long-term cover. If the primary cleaner is absent for more than two weeks (extended illness, parental leave, bereavement leave), cover is drawn from the wider trained bench rather than relying on the single named relief. The Practice is kept informed of the cover plan, the named individuals involved, and the expected duration. Continuity of standard is maintained because every operative on the bench is trained to the same documented standard.
Permanent reassignment. If the primary cleaner moves to a new permanent role within Optus Glean — promotion, relocation, retirement — the relief is promoted to primary on a planned timetable, a new relief is trained on the site, and both are introduced to the Practice before the handover takes effect. There is no day on which the Practice discovers, after the fact, that their cleaner has changed.
Substitution is Optus Glean's operational problem, not the Practice's risk to absorb. The buyer pays a fixed monthly fee for a defined scope to be delivered, every day it is meant to be delivered. The mechanism by which we deliver it — primary, relief, bench, retraining — is our cost to manage and our risk to carry.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-06
