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 Clare 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 Clare. 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 Clare 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.
Specialist Healthcare Cleaning Across County Clare
Healthcare cleaning in County Clare demands the highest standards of infection prevention and control. The county's healthcare infrastructure centres on University Hospital Ennis (part of the UL Hospitals Group), which provides acute medical, surgical, and emergency services to the people of Clare. Supporting this hospital are primary care centres in Ennis and Shannon, a network of nursing homes and residential care facilities including Cahercalla Community Hospital and Hospice, St Joseph's Hospital, and Mowlam Healthcare facilities, along with dozens of GP surgeries, dental practices, physiotherapy clinics, and pharmacies spread across the county from Kilrush to Killaloe.
Optus Glean provides HIQA-aligned healthcare cleaning for all types of medical and care facilities in Clare. Our specialist teams are trained in infection prevention and control (IPC), colour-coded cleaning systems, clinical waste segregation, and the specific requirements of the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) National Standards for infection prevention and control in community services and residential care.
Healthcare Facilities We Clean in Clare
University Hospital Ennis and Acute Care Settings
University Hospital Ennis (UHE) is part of the UL Hospitals Group and provides essential acute medical, surgical, and emergency department services to County Clare. The hospital serves a catchment of approximately 120,000 people and operates alongside its sister hospitals in the UL Group, including University Hospital Limerick. Healthcare cleaning in an acute hospital setting requires rigorous adherence to HIQA standards, HSE infection prevention guidance, and documented cleaning verification protocols. Our teams are trained to operate within clinical environments, working alongside nursing and medical staff to maintain the highest hygiene standards.
Beyond the hospital itself, the associated outpatient clinics, diagnostic centres, and administrative offices all require professional healthcare-grade cleaning to the same exacting standards.
Primary Care Centres — Ennis and Shannon
The Ennis Primary Care Centre and Shannon Primary Care Centre are modern multi-disciplinary healthcare facilities that bring together GP services, nursing, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, mental health services, community welfare, and HSE administrative functions under one roof. These centres require daily healthcare-standard cleaning including clinical room sanitisation, waiting area and reception hygiene, washroom cleaning to medical-grade standards, and careful waste segregation between clinical and general waste streams.
Our primary care centre cleaning teams work outside consultation hours — typically early morning and evening — to ensure all clinical and public areas are fully cleaned and disinfected before patients arrive. We provide documented cleaning verification logs for HIQA compliance and audit readiness.
Nursing Homes and Residential Care Facilities
County Clare has a significant number of nursing homes and residential care facilities serving its ageing population. Cahercalla Community Hospital and Hospice in Ennis is one of the largest facilities in the area, providing residential care, respite care, and palliative care. St Joseph's Hospital in Ennis provides long-stay residential care. Mowlam Healthcare also operates in the county, alongside numerous private nursing homes across Clare from Kilrush to Killaloe and Scarriff to Shannon.
Nursing home cleaning requires particular sensitivity to the needs of elderly and vulnerable residents. Our teams follow HIQA's National Standards for Residential Care Settings, including enhanced cleaning of high-touch surfaces, outbreak-response protocols, terminal cleaning of rooms on discharge or transfer, and laundry handling in line with infection prevention guidance. We work discreetly around residents' daily routines and personal space.
GP Surgeries, Dental Practices, and Community Clinics
Across County Clare, from the larger towns of Ennis, Shannon, and Kilrush to smaller communities in Ennistymon, Sixmilebridge, Killaloe, Scarriff, and Doolin, GP surgeries and dental practices form the frontline of primary healthcare. These facilities require clinical-grade cleaning that goes well beyond standard commercial cleaning. Treatment rooms, examination areas, waiting rooms, and washrooms must be sanitised to prevent healthcare-associated infections. Dental practices require additional specialist cleaning around aerosol-generating procedures.
What Our Clare Healthcare Cleaning Includes
- Clinical area sanitisation — Treatment rooms, examination areas, consulting rooms cleaned to HIQA infection prevention standards
- Colour-coded cleaning — Red (washrooms), blue (general/low-risk), green (kitchens/catering), yellow (isolation/infectious areas) to prevent cross-contamination
- Touchpoint disinfection — Door handles, bed rails, call buttons, light switches, handrails, lift buttons
- Washroom hygiene — Medical-grade sanitisation, consumable restocking, documented cleaning verification
- Clinical waste management — Correct segregation, handling, and disposal of clinical, pharmaceutical, and general waste streams
- Terminal cleaning — Deep cleaning and disinfection of rooms on patient discharge, transfer, or death
- Outbreak response — Enhanced cleaning protocols, fogging, and misting during infection outbreaks
- Floor care — Daily mopping with hospital-grade disinfectants, periodic machine scrubbing and sealing
Healthcare Cleaning Pricing in Clare
Healthcare cleaning in Clare commands a premium over standard commercial cleaning due to the specialist training, products, and compliance requirements. Typical 2026 pricing:
- fixed monthly fees apply: as a fixed monthly fee per site (contract basis)
- GP surgery / dental practice: €400 to €800 per month
- Primary care centre: €1,500 to €4,500 per month
- Nursing home (40–80 beds): €3,000 to €7,500 per month
- Hospital ward / department: Priced on bespoke basis following risk assessment
- One-off deep clean / terminal clean: €6.50 to €12.00 per sqm
All pricing is fixed following a detailed site survey and risk assessment. There are no hidden charges.
Why Clare Healthcare Facilities Choose Optus Glean
- HIQA compliance — Our teams are trained to HIQA National Standards for infection prevention and control. We provide documented cleaning verification, audit-ready records, and IPC compliance reporting.
- Specialist healthcare training — Every operative completes mandatory training in IPC, colour-coded cleaning, PPE use, clinical waste handling, and COSHH before being deployed to any healthcare site.
- Emergency outbreak response — We mobilise enhanced cleaning teams within 4 hours for infection outbreaks, including norovirus, C. difficile, MRSA, and respiratory outbreaks.
- Fully insured — €6.5M public liability and €13M employer's liability insurance. All staff are Garda vetted.
- UL Hospitals Group area experience — We understand the healthcare infrastructure across the Mid-West, from University Hospital Ennis to the network of primary care centres and nursing homes.
- Flexible scheduling — We work around clinical schedules, patient routines, and visiting hours.
Related Cleaning Services in Clare
- Office Cleaning Clare — Commercial offices, Shannon Free Zone, Ennis town centre
- Hotel Cleaning Clare — Hotels, resorts, and hospitality venues
- Industrial Cleaning Clare — Factories and production floors at Shannon Free Zone
- Post-Construction Cleaning Clare — Builder's cleans for new healthcare builds
- End of Tenancy Cleaning Clare — Move-out deep cleans
- Carpet & Floor Cleaning — Healthcare-grade floor maintenance
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.
Frequently asked questions
How much does healthcare cleaning cost in Ireland in 2026?
A GP practice or primary care centre is priced as a fixed monthly fee per site, set against a defined scope (rooms, frequency, IPC standard) and held under a multi-year contract with an annual indexed review. The Contract Cleaning ERO 2026 sets a €14.80/hour floor for the labour component, but reputable providers price the contract, not the hour. Expect a single line on the invoice and a monthly Direct Debit.
What standards apply to healthcare cleaning in Ireland?
HIQA's National Standards for Infection Prevention and Control, the HSE National Cleaning Standards Manual, the HPSC's hand-hygiene guidelines, and S.I. 7 of 2009 on healthcare-associated infection. The Patient Safety Act 2023 has further raised expectations on documented evidence. A compliant cleaning programme produces an audit trail that maps directly to these standards — colour-coded equipment, two-stage cleaning, and validated disinfection contact times.
Why is healthcare cleaning consistency such a problem in Ireland?
Most Irish cleaning provision is delivered by part-time, casual, or self-employed operatives who often also work as healthcare assistants and rotate between cleaning and care shifts. Housing affordability and wage compression in larger urban areas reinforce this pattern. The result is a different person in your practice most days, no continuity on the IPC standard, and a fragile audit trail at HIQA inspection.
What is HIQA-aligned IPC and why does it matter?
HIQA-aligned infection prevention and control means the daily cleaning programme is documented, executed, and evidenced against HIQA's IPC standards and the HSE National Cleaning Standards Manual. In practice that means colour-coded equipment, two-stage detergent-then-disinfectant cleaning of clinical surfaces, validated contact times per the Safety Data Sheet, signed daily checklists, and records that survive an unannounced inspection.
What's the difference between PAYE and casual cleaning contracts in healthcare?
A PAYE-employed cleaner is on payroll, paid above the Contract Cleaning ERO floor, holds a formal contract of employment, has Garda vetting on file, paid leave, and PRSI/pension contributions through the employer. A casual or self-employed operative is none of those things. PAYE staffing is the only model that supports a named primary cleaner and named relief — which is what continuity in a regulated environment actually requires.
How do I evaluate a cleaning provider for a healthcare setting?
Ask three questions. One: are the cleaners PAYE-employed by the company that signs the contract, or subcontracted? Two: who is the named primary cleaner for my site, and who is the named relief? Three: can the provider produce an IPC-aligned audit pack — colour-coded SOP, signed daily checklists, SDS file, Garda vetting register — that maps to HIQA standards on day one of the contract.
What should be in a cleaning contract for a GP practice?
A defined scope per room, frequencies tied to clinical risk, the IPC standard the contract is delivered against (HIQA / HSE National Cleaning Standards Manual), the named primary cleaner and relief, the auditing programme, the chemical regime (with SDS), Garda vetting confirmation, the fixed monthly fee, the annual indexed review mechanism, and a clean exit clause. No per-hour pricing. No ad-hoc top-up charges.
Who handles clinical waste at a GP practice?
Clinical waste, sharps, and pharmaceutical waste are handled by a licensed healthcare-waste contractor under the Waste Management Acts 1996-2023, not by the cleaning provider. The cleaning team's role is environmental cleaning of waste-holding areas, sharps awareness, and immediate reporting of any found sharps to clinical staff. In Clare, this typically means a separate orange-bag and yellow-sharps collection from a HSE-approved contractor running on a fixed schedule.
Last reviewed: 2026-05-06