In 2005, Westech won an RFP to measure the cleanliness of BC Hospitals

In late 2004, a common system for measuring Health Care Facility cleanliness was sought by British Columbia, the first initiative of its kind in Canada. Acting as a collective, the BC Health Authorities issued a Request for a Proposal that was awarded to Westech Systems.

In 2005, Westech performed its first independent audit on all the healthcare facilities in BC. 26% of hospitals fell below the acceptable benchmark score. Utilizing 20 plus years of experience and research relating to worldwide best practices, Westech helped BC Hospitals to achieve the following

  1. Development of a common set of cleaning standards.
  2. Development of an audit system specific to the needs of BC Health Authorities.
  3. Establishment of standardized reporting processes for both internal and independent audits.
  4. Creation of an audit system for internal use at all public healthcare facilities, developed using best practices based on research and state-of-the-art technology.

TODAY:
Westech & BC Continue Successful Partnership Resulting in Cleaner Hospitals

Following the first independent audit conducted in British Columbia by Westech in June 2005, Westech has worked closely with the BC Health Authorities and other Canadian Health Care Facilities to enhance the tools and processes to ensure that they are consistent with industry best practices.

 

Key Milestones of the Program from 2005 to the Present Include:

  • Westech has trained hundreds of BC EVS supervisors on our cleaning auditor certification program, as well as providing re-certification training on an annual basis.
  • Westech has completed independent audits on a monthly to annual basis for up to 170 healthcare facilities at all BC Health Authorities every year since 2005.
  • We continue to work closely with the BC Health Authorities to pinpoint cleanliness issues for corrective action; the number of sites falling below the acceptable benchmark score has fallen from 26% to an average of 5% for the last eight years.

Can We Help You?

With such a dramatic improvement in the cleanliness levels of BC hospitals, the Westech team hopes to bring this success story across the country and play an important part in making Canadian healthcare facilities more sanitary for everyone, leading to reduced hospital-acquired infections.

Prevention is the Answer

Westech cleaning audits and systems help to reduce bacteria and germs, thus preventing the spread of infection and providing healthier and more positive environments for patients and staff. Your organization could be next. Request a consult below.

Healthcare

Testimonials

The BC health authorities have worked with Westech over the past 14 years. Together, we have developed and implemented a best-in-class visual audit system that is in place across more than 170 facilities within the Province. Implementing a “standardized” visual audit program has been a foundational piece to seeing significant improvements made to the overall cleanliness in BC health care facilities. In addition, the monthly cleaning audits carried out by the Westech team help our cleaning program operators improve upon their servicing methods. Through timely reporting, our cleaning program operators have the visibility to address cleaning challenges quickly. This benefit is then passed on to our patients and staff by having a cleaner environment. Westech is an innovator within our industry and has helped us design many other audits programs and patient survey methodologies.

Murray Hutchinson

Corporate Director

Island Health

Healthcare

Testimonials

The BC health authorities have worked with Westech over the past 10 years. Together we have developed and implemented a best-in-the-class audit system. The outcome of using this standardized Provincial audit has been a significant improvement in cleanliness in BC health care facilities. In addition, the monthly cleaning audits carried out by the Westech team help our cleaning contractors improve upon their servicing method. This benefit is then passed on to our patients and staff by having a cleaner environment. Westech maximizes technology and is innovative, professional and knowledgeable with regards to the hospital housekeeping process. They have consistently delivered on time and budget. We look forward to continuing the close association between British Columbia health care facilities and Westech.

David Handley

Executive Director

Support Services VCHA, FHA, PHSA & PHC – BC Health Authorities

Healthcare

Testimonials

The London Health Sciences Centre hospital engaged in finding a reputable company to perform a hospital-wide cleaning audit this past summer. The Request for Proposal was successfully answered by Westech Systems Inc. The audit was needed to establish a cleaning baseline for our facilities. The information was essential for the creation of a Housekeeping Request for Proposal for the outsourced areas of the hospital. Our experience with Westech was excellent. Dean Waisman and his experienced crew did a very thorough, professional job. The audit report provided us with solid information that would lead us to changes in our cleaning practices.

Sab Sferrazza

Director of Corporate Customer Service

London Health Sciences Centre

Healthcare

Testimonials

In our journey to adopt best practices and improve our performance in environmental cleaning, we engaged Westech as our cleaning auditor and partner. As a result of this partnership, our staff and leaders have learned new skills and we are now able to set realistic goals based on Westech’s experience and expertise. Our results have improved and continue to improve.

Jim Flett

Chief Financial Officer

Kingston General Hospital/ Providence Care / Hotel Dieu Hospital

Healthcare

Testimonials

Over the past year, Westech has provided services to our hospital.  You have provided service in the following areas:  training, quality improvement, process improvement, auditing, reporting, and analytics.  In every case, your services have been excellent. It is a pleasure to work with you and your team.  Your commitment to patient care and patient safety by focusing on improving housekeeping quality is second to none.  Your team’s creativity shows in how they create and deliver customized training and certification packages tailored to achieve exceptional learning amongst participants.  Your innovations and improvements in both online reporting and analytics capabilities, as well as your customized reporting and analysis supports, have helped us focus our attention on identifying areas for continuous improvement. I am grateful for the outstanding level of customer service both you and Meg have shown throughout our time working together.  I feel comfortable to trust in your industry-leading expertise, knowing that we share common goals for excellence in housekeeping quality. Please take this opportunity to share my sincere thanks with the members of your team for their commitment to keeping patients safe through their focus on housekeeping quality.

Island Health – VIHA

Healthcare

Testimonials

Westech has been used as a standardized quality audit tool for lower mainland health care facilities for more than 15 years. Over those years, Westech has been responsive to our needs and have made process/tool improvements in order to maximize the value of their reports. The Westech audit reports are an important part of our performance monitoring system and used in discussion with our service providers on areas for improvements.

Doug Wills

Executive Director P3 Operations

Fraser Health

Healthcare

Testimonials

The Westech team offers great value with a blend of customer service, expertise and user-friendly technology. 3rd party facility cleanliness audits are excellent tools that directly contribute to enhanced quality and trust. The audits help to identify opportunities and lead to great coaching moments with staff. Westech’s team is highly responsive and offer excellent customer service and value. We consider them a trusted partner in our housekeeping program and find them to be highly adaptable to our needs and requests.

Andrew Pattison

Corporate Director Support Services

Interior Health Authority

Healthcare

Testimonials

Northern Health’s (NH) experience with Westech has been very beneficial. We have made significant strides in improving the cleanliness ratings of our facilities by using the housekeeping auditing tools developed by Westech Inc. In NH, we use internal auditors using the tools developed, as well as being rated through external verification by Westech auditors. NH has also utilized Westech’s workload planning software against new provincial cleaning standards and auditing standards to control how to best efficiently apply our available human resources. These tools have improved our understanding of how to utilize the housekeeping staff to their best abilities and to the best effect on our cleanliness audits. NH is also utilizing Westech in the development of a food-safe auditing tool that can be used internally by NHA supervisory staff to monitor our food services departments. Our relationship with Westech continues to evolve as we look to adhere to Provincial standards and best practices in the Province of BC and Canada.

Michael Hoefer

Executive Director

Capital Planning and Support Services Northern Health Authority BC

Healthcare

Testimonials

“Reliable, Responsive, a True Partner”

I’ve been working with Westech for a number of years now and can say that our organization has always been pleased with the quality of services and products delivered by Westech. We have relied on Westech’s expertise, professionalism and collaborative approach to develop, implement and maintain a broad array of quality programs that contribute directly to the high quality and safety of the care environment within our organization. The team is a pleasure to work with and truly understands the needs and requirements of health care systems. Most recently, Westech has worked with us to develop an application in support of our Patient Advisor Led Site Environmental Assessment program; leading the way in increasing the patients’ voice on the quality of our care environments. Thanks, Westech.

Brian Bowman

Director, Quality Improvement and Business Support Initiatives, Operations and Support Services

Island Health

Healthcare

Testimonials

Westech = Improved Patient Experience!
Westech has provided us with an auditing tool that is user-friendly, provides valid data, helps us find our cleaning gaps and even supports daily staff coaching.

Nicole Evans

Manager Food and Environmental Services

Cambridge Memorial Hospital

Healthcare

Testimonials

Innovative products and amazing service! Northern Health uses several different audits from Westech including Visual, UV, Patient Satisfaction, Food Safety, and Hand Hygiene audits. We have also used the TechniClean housekeeping management/workload measurement tool to quantitatively determine the FTE required to clean a specific facility and to produce work assignments as well. The customization and support from the Westech team is incredible!

Lois Barney

Director of Support Services & Lauren Ferreira, Manager of Support Services

Northern Health Authority

Healthcare

Testimonials

The Facilities Operations Team at William Osler Health System works tirelessly to ensure we provide a safe, clean and welcoming environment to all of our patients, staff, and members of the general public.  Our partnership with Westech Cleaning Audit Systems has driven internal process improvements with our front line cleaning practices and changed the way we conduct our cleanliness assessments which have improved the quality and consistency of the care we provide on a daily basis. Having an electronic audit tool at our fingertips with multiple reporting capabilities allows us to obtain quick detailed performance updates on a daily, weekly, quarterly and annual basis.  The unannounced external audit assessments competed by Westech engrain best practice approaches in our facility on a daily basis while providing an external perspective on our internal performance metrics and quality measures.  We are very pleased with the results that we have achieved in our organization through our partnership with Westech Cleaning Audit Systems and we look forward to achieving continued success in the future!

John Marshman

Executive Director Facilities Operations

William Osler Health System

Healthcare

Testimonials

The Beaufort-Delta Health and Social Services Authority has been working with Westech Systems for over four years conducting quarterly cleaning audits. Our experience has been great; they are very professional and provide us with excellent data to continually improve our cleaning performance and methods. The reports that they provide enable us to pinpoint areas that require review and improvement and also provide the reassurance that our cleaning staff are doing a thorough job and meeting our cleaning standards.

Roger Israel

Regional Comptroller, NWT Health & Social Services Authority

Beaufort-Delta Region

Healthcare

Testimonials

Stanton Territorial Health Authority (STHA) has worked with Westech for over three years. Westech auditors are professional and knowledgeable with regards to hospital housekeeping processes. In partnership with Westech, the cleanliness of the facility has continuously improved, thus improving the patient’s experience and the environment for staff.

Steve Schaub

Manager, Facility Operations & Maintenance

Stanton Territorial Health Authority - Government of the Northwest Territories

Healthcare

Testimonials

At Alberta Health Services (AHS), our mission is to provide a patient-focused, quality health system that is accessible for all Albertans. We have core values that are at the heart of everything we do; in part Accountability and Excellence. Our partnership with Westech and the clean audit system empowers us to improve through quantitative measurement of our cleaning outcomes. The Clean Audit program provides the capability of having a standardized provincial auditing model. It allows us the opportunity to benchmark and compare like facilities and have consistency in approach and methodology to cleaning outcome expectations. The program enables our Environmental Services department to be accountable and open to continuous improvement. This benefit is most important to our patients and families as we work hard to ensure they have a clean and safe environment.

Renee Freake

Manager, Operational Excellence, Nutrition, Food, Linen & Environmental Services

Alberta Health Services

Healthcare

Testimonials

The BC Health Authorities have worked in collaboration with Westech over the last 14 years to develop and continuously improve our healthcare cleaning audit program. Westech brings a unique blend of operational knowledge in healthcare cleaning practices, an extensive network of audit expertise and an ability to tailor their software to support our evolving needs. As a result, BC has been on the forefront in developing a provincial benchmark and supporting our operations teams with meaningful quality improvement data.

Dan Jackson

Regional Director – EVS, Waste and Integrated Service Models Lower Mainland Business Initiatives and Support Services

Fraser Health | Providence Health Care | Provincial Health Services Authority | Vancouver Coastal Health

Education

Testimonials

The College of New Caledonia sourced and engaged Westech Systems Inc to conduct an independent cleanliness audit of our Prince George Campus. We found the Westech staff to be very professional, customer-focused and overall a collaborative team who were very engaged during the entire review. Westech was committed to providing the College with a very impartial unbiased and comprehensive review using the APPA standards and they by far exceeded their commitment and our expectations. The point that resonates with me the most is that Westech’s values and principles clearly come right from the top. Their President lives and breathes customer experience and truly, this is quite often what is missing in today’s business environment. Thanks. Sincerely, Frank.

Frank Hale

Director of Procurement and Ancillary Services

College of New Caledonia

Education

Testimonials

As Director of Facilities at Capilano University, I am please to recommend Westech Systems as Janitorial Consultant well versed in the Industry.

Susan Doig

Director Facilities Department

Capilano College

Education

Testimonials

We are pleased to recommend Westech Systems as a Janitorial consultant company, who is well versed in the industry standards and regulations.

Todd Bonderoff

Director of Facilities Department

Northern Lights College

Education

Testimonials

Westech has helped Vancouver Community College out over the years with performing cleaning audits that have really given us an accurate measure of how clean our facility is and, in doing so, has helped us improve our cleanliness outcomes with our cleaning contractors.

Gary Larmour

Building Manager

Vancouver Community College

Education

Testimonials

As Manager of Facilities Services at Langara College, we have received excellent results in our time working with Dean and his team at Westech Systems and would recommend their firm to you.

Raymond Leung

Manager of Facilities

Langara College

Education

Testimonials

We engaged Westech to help us objectively measure the cleanliness of our facility to compare our APPA based cleaning contract with the actual onsite cleaning outcomes.  We were very impressed with Westech’s ability to incorporate our specific cleaning standards into their audit system.  The results were informative and helped our cleaning contractor to follow through on implementing improvements.

Cindy MacIntosh

Supervisor, Custodial Services

Facilities and Campus Development, British Columbia Institute of Technology

Commercial

Testimonials

We began working with Westech in 2013, who provide independent audits of our sites and measure how our service providers are doing based on the APPA Standards. This has been very successful in raising the quality of cleaning services at all of our properties within Western Canada. We have since trained our staff and service providers on how to use the Westech tools and methodology and we supplement the independent audits with our own inspections. This has been a great improvement and ensures that our service providers understand our expectations of what clean is and that we are all on the same page.

Terry Connors

Director, Portfolio Operations

The Cadillac Fairview Corporation Limited Western Portfolio Office

Commercial

Testimonials

Over the last several years, Westech has assisted FortisBC with objectively measuring the cleanliness of several of our facilities located throughout the lower mainland. In addition, Westech has also worked closely with us to put together a performance-based contract with our cleaning contractor so that the cleaning results remain consistent or possible penalties will occur. The great service that Westech provides has helped us ensure our facilities are safe and clean for both our staff and people visiting our sites.

Steve Dosanjh

Maintenance Manager

FortisBC

Commercial

Testimonials

Through Westech Systems systematic, thorough auditing program, it has made managing our janitorial less challenging and has provided a good guideline for managing performance and outcomes.

Lillians Tummods

Senior Project Manager

Cadillac Fairview

Commercial

Testimonials

WestTech did an awesome job for us – they audited 13 of our buildings at our office business park with a short turn-around. Very professional and great to work with

Nicky Arthur

Commercial

Testimonials

I was introduced to Westech several years ago through Capilano University. Having used several other consultants in the past, we were encouraged to meet with Dean and Meg to hear what they had to offer. That turned out to be a fortuitous decision. It is not the fact that their staff have “eagle eyes”, it is the fact they are prepared to work with our cleaning company to help them get better. It has been a bit of a process but the results are positive.

Hugh Swan

Director Facility Management

Science World

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