Medical Cleaning Questions Answered

We specialise exclusively in healthcare facilities across metropolitan Melbourne, Geelong and the Mornington Peninsula. The facility types we service include:

• GP clinics and medical centres (single-GP and multi-GP practices)
• Hospitals and day surgery units
• Residential aged care facilities and retirement villages
• Dental practices and orthodontic clinics
• Allied health centres (physiotherapy, occupational therapy, psychology, speech pathology)
• Specialist and clinical clinics (dermatology, oncology, fertility, cardiology)
• Pathology collection centres and laboratories
• Community health centres and bulk-billing clinics
• NDIS service provider facilities and disability support offices

If your facility type is not listed, contact us — we are happy to assess whether we can service your specific environment.

We are a specialist medical and healthcare cleaning company. We do not service general commercial offices, retail premises, warehouses or residential properties. Our entire operation — staff training, product selection, equipment management, documentation systems and compliance frameworks — is built around the specific requirements of healthcare environments.

This distinction matters. A generalist commercial cleaner who "also does medical" typically uses general-purpose cleaning products, does not understand infection control zone management and cannot provide the compliance documentation that healthcare accreditation bodies require. The difference in outcomes can be significant — and in a healthcare setting, those outcomes can affect patient safety.

We service healthcare facilities across metropolitan Melbourne, including all inner suburbs, eastern suburbs (Box Hill, Doncaster, Camberwell, Hawthorn, Glen Waverley), northern suburbs (Essendon, Preston, Epping, Craigieburn, Brunswick), western suburbs (Footscray, Sunshine, Werribee), southern and bayside suburbs (Brighton, St Kilda, Frankston, Mornington), and the CBD and inner north (Carlton, Fitzroy, North Melbourne).

We also service the Geelong region and Mornington Peninsula. For suburban and regional locations outside metropolitan Melbourne, please contact us to confirm availability. Emergency biohazard response is available 24/7 across metropolitan Melbourne.

Golden Star Medical Cleaning has been providing specialist healthcare cleaning services to Melbourne facilities for over ten years. We are part of the broader Golden Star cleaning group, which has established a strong reputation across commercial, healthcare and specialist cleaning in Victoria.

Our experience spans GP clinics, aged care, dental, hospital and allied health environments — giving us a practical, facility-specific understanding of the cleaning requirements and compliance expectations in each healthcare sector.

Yes — every team member holds a current National Police Check. This is a non-negotiable requirement for anyone who works in a healthcare facility where vulnerable patients and residents may be present.

All staff complete infection control training before being assigned to any healthcare facility. Training covers the correct use of TGA-registered disinfectants (including correct dilution, contact time and surface compatibility), colour-coded equipment zone management, personal protective equipment (PPE) use, sharps awareness, clinical waste handling and healthcare-specific cleaning sequences for different room and zone types.

Senior team members hold additional qualifications in infection control and are the first responders for biohazard and outbreak scenarios.

We use only TGA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants — products that have been assessed and registered by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) for efficacy against the relevant pathogens in healthcare environments. These include products with proven activity against bacteria, enveloped and non-enveloped viruses, fungi and bacterial spores.

Product selection is tailored to facility type. Dental practices require disinfectants compatible with dental chair surfaces and aerosol management zones. Aged care facilities require products appropriate for use around residents, including low-irritant formulations where necessary. Hospital terminal cleans require sporicidal products effective against C. difficile and similar organisms.

We do not substitute TGA-registered products with cheaper generic alternatives under any circumstances. Certificates of conformity for products used are available on request.

Colour-coded cleaning is a system where specific colours of microfibre cloths, mop heads and buckets are designated to specific zones within a facility. For example: red for toilets and high-risk bathroom areas, yellow for other bathroom and clinical waste areas, blue for general areas including corridors and offices, and green for food preparation areas.

The system is important because it structurally prevents cross-contamination between zones. Without colour coding, a cloth or mop used in a toilet area could be used to clean a consulting room surface — transferring pathogens from a high-risk zone to a patient-contact surface. In a healthcare setting, this type of cross-contamination is a primary vector for healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Australian Standard AS/NZS 4815 recommends colour-coded equipment management as part of healthcare facility cleaning protocols. It is a mandatory requirement of our cleaning methodology for every facility we service.

Contact time — also called dwell time — is the minimum time a disinfectant must remain wet on a surface to achieve its registered efficacy against target pathogens. Most TGA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants require a contact time of between 30 seconds and 10 minutes, depending on the product and target organism.

This is one of the most commonly misapplied aspects of healthcare cleaning. A cleaner who sprays a surface and immediately wipes it dry has not allowed the product to work — regardless of what product they used. The surface may look clean but is not disinfected.

Our staff are trained to apply products at correct concentrations, allow full contact time, and then wipe or mop appropriately. This process is reflected in the time allocated for each room type in our cleaning schedules — which is why our scheduled visit durations may be longer than those quoted by generalist companies. The time is not wasted; it is the contact time working.

Our standard hospital-grade disinfectants are effective against a broad spectrum of healthcare-relevant pathogens, including:

• Bacteria: MRSA, VRE, Staphylococcus aureus, E. coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Bacterial spores: Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) — requires sporicidal products applied at extended contact times
• Enveloped viruses: Influenza, RSV, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) and other coronaviruses
• Non-enveloped viruses: Norovirus, rotavirus, adenovirus — requires specific formulations and extended contact times
• Fungi: Candida auris, Aspergillus species and other clinically significant moulds

For specific outbreak scenarios requiring coverage against unusual pathogens, we consult with the facility's infection control team and source appropriate specialist products. All products used are documented in post-clean compliance records.

ATP (adenosine triphosphate) bioluminescence testing is an objective, rapid method for verifying surface cleanliness after a clean. An ATP swab is applied to a surface and inserted into a luminometer device, which measures the amount of ATP present — a reliable indicator of biological contamination including bacteria, yeast, mould and food residue.

Results are produced in seconds and expressed as a Relative Light Unit (RLU) value. Healthcare-grade benchmarks (typically <100–200 RLU depending on the surface type) confirm that the surface has been cleaned to an acceptable standard. Results above the threshold indicate that re-cleaning is required.

We offer ATP testing as an add-on service for terminal cleans, post-outbreak decontaminations, accreditation preparation and any situation where objective surface verification is required. Results are documented and included in the written compliance record provided after the engagement. Contact us to discuss ATP testing as part of your cleaning programme.

Cross-contamination prevention is built into our cleaning methodology through several interconnected practices:

• Colour-coded equipment: Separate cloths, mop heads and buckets for each designated zone — never transferred between zones
• Fresh microfibre per room: A clean microfibre cloth is used for each consulting or treatment room — cloths are never reused from room to room without laundering
• Correct cleaning sequence: Rooms are cleaned from clean to less-clean areas, and from high surfaces to low surfaces within each room, ensuring contamination is not spread upward or into cleaner areas
• Solution change between zones: Mop water and disinfectant solutions are changed between zones, not reused from bathroom areas into clinical areas
• PPE management: Gloves and aprons are changed between zones where contamination risk changes significantly

Our facility-specific cleaning specification documents the sequence and requirements for each room type at your facility, ensuring consistent application by every team member on every visit.

GP clinics seeking RACGP accreditation under the Standards for General Practices are required to demonstrate that their facility is cleaned to a standard that effectively minimises infection risk. The relevant standard references infection control principles aligned with AS/NZS 4815 and the NHMRC Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare.

Specifically, RACGP assessors look for evidence of:

• Use of hospital-grade TGA-registered disinfectants in clinical areas
• Documented cleaning schedules with signed completion records
• Colour-coded or clearly separated cleaning equipment for different zones
• Appropriate handling and disposal of clinical waste
• Staff awareness of infection control cleaning procedures

Our compliance records are formatted to directly address these requirements, making RACGP accreditation audit preparation significantly more straightforward for practice managers.

The Aged Care Quality Standards — regulated by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission — require residential aged care facilities to maintain a safe, clean and well-maintained environment as part of Standard 1 (Consumer Dignity and Choice) and Standard 3 (Personal Care and Clinical Care).

Our service directly supports Aged Care Quality Standards compliance by providing:

• Daily cleaning using TGA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants throughout the facility
• Colour-coded zone separation to prevent cross-contamination between resident rooms, bathrooms, corridors and clinical areas
• Signed daily compliance logs in a format compatible with Aged Care Quality Standards audit file requirements
• 24/7 emergency outbreak response for norovirus, gastroenteritis, MRSA and other infectious scenarios
• Documentation of all products used, concentrations applied and areas cleaned — available for regulatory inspection

NSQHS Standard 3 — Preventing and Controlling Healthcare-Associated Infection is one of the eight National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. It applies to hospitals, day procedure services and other health service organisations seeking accreditation under the NSQHS framework.

Standard 3 requires health service organisations to have systems in place to prevent and control HAIs, including environmental cleaning processes that align with the NHMRC Australian Guidelines for the Prevention and Control of Infection in Healthcare. This includes documented cleaning schedules, trained cleaning staff, appropriate product selection and verification processes.

Our service is specifically structured to support NSQHS Standard 3 compliance. We provide post-clean compliance records formatted for NSQHS audit documentation, use cleaning protocols aligned with NHMRC guidelines, and can provide ATP bioluminescence verification for terminal cleans where objective evidence of surface cleanliness is required by the accreditation body.

After every scheduled clean, we provide a signed completion record that includes:

• Date, time of arrival and time of completion
• Name and signature of the team member(s) who completed the clean
• Areas cleaned and tasks completed (based on the agreed facility specification)
• Products used, including product name and registered TGA number
• Any observations, access issues or items requiring the facility manager's attention

Records are provided in a format suitable for use in RACGP, Aged Care Quality Standards and NSQHS accreditation audit files. Facilities can choose to receive records digitally or in printed format. Records are retained by Golden Star Medical Cleaning for a minimum of 12 months and are available for retrieval if required for regulatory purposes.

AS/NZS 4815 is the Australian and New Zealand standard for office-based healthcare facilities. It sets requirements for the reprocessing of reusable medical and surgical instruments and devices — which includes the cleaning of rooms and environments where these instruments are used or stored. Our cleaning methodology for all healthcare facilities is aligned with the infection control principles in AS/NZS 4815.

AS 4187 is the Australian standard for reprocessing reusable medical devices in health service organisations, and is particularly relevant to hospital and day surgery cleaning — specifically terminal room cleans and instrument processing area cleaning. Our terminal cleaning protocols for hospitals and day surgeries are designed to meet AS 4187 requirements, including documentation of products used and post-clean verification where required.

We are happy to provide a detailed breakdown of how our cleaning specification aligns with these standards for your facility's accreditation file on request.

A standard scheduled clean covers the agreed scope for your facility as documented in your facility-specific cleaning specification. Typically this includes:

• All clinical and consulting rooms: examination tables, desk surfaces, keyboards, door handles, light switches, floors
• Waiting room and reception: all hard surfaces, seating, floors, bins
• Bathrooms and toilets: full disinfection including pan, cistern, basin, tapware, grab rails, mirrors, floors
• Corridors, skirting boards and high-touch points throughout the facility
• Bin emptying and clinical waste management (if included in scope)
• All tasks completed using TGA-registered hospital-grade disinfectants with correct contact times observed
• Signed completion record provided after every visit

Your specific scope is documented in writing before the first service visit. Any additional rooms or tasks can be added to scope at any time — simply contact your account manager.

Yes. In addition to scheduled cleaning programmes, we offer a range of one-off and periodic services:

• Terminal cleans: Full facility deep clean for accreditation preparation, post-refurbishment or handover
• Periodic deep cleans: Scheduled quarterly or six-monthly intensive cleans covering high areas, behind equipment, carpets and upholstery
• Post-construction and builder's cleans: Removal of construction dust, debris and residues from new or renovated healthcare facilities
• Biohazard and outbreak decontamination: Emergency response for blood spills, bodily fluid incidents and infectious outbreaks
• Carpet and upholstery steam cleaning: Periodic specialist cleaning for soft furnishings in healthcare waiting rooms and patient areas

One-off cleans are quoted individually. Contact us with your requirements and we will provide a written quote promptly.

Yes — we work with newly opened GP clinics, dental practices, allied health centres and aged care facilities from day one. For new facilities, we typically begin with a post-construction terminal clean to remove all building debris, dust and residue before the first patient or resident arrives. We then establish the ongoing scheduled cleaning programme based on the facility's layout, room types and compliance requirements.

Working with a specialist medical cleaner from the outset is particularly valuable for new facilities seeking RACGP, Aged Care Quality Standards or NSQHS accreditation, as our documentation systems are in place from the first clean — building an audit-ready compliance record from day one rather than having to reconstruct it retrospectively.

Our standard cleaning service includes the handling and secure bagging of clinical waste that is already containerised and sealed — for example, yellow-lidded clinical waste bins and sharps containers that have been closed by clinical staff. We do not open or sort clinical waste containers.

The collection and licensed disposal of clinical and biohazardous waste requires a licensed waste contractor under EPA Victoria and WorkSafe Victoria regulations. This service can be arranged as part of your cleaning programme through our licensed partner network and is quoted separately. If your facility requires clinical waste collection and disposal, please mention this when requesting a quote.

Yes. We regularly manage cleaning programmes for healthcare groups and networks with multiple facilities across Melbourne — including GP practice groups, aged care operators with multiple residences, and specialist clinic groups. Each facility has its own cleaning specification and compliance documentation, but billing, account management and reporting can be consolidated under a single account for administrative convenience.

Multi-facility accounts are handled by a dedicated account manager who serves as a single point of contact for all locations. Contact us to discuss your multi-site requirements.

Medical cleaning costs in Melbourne vary significantly by facility type, size and scope. Indicative starting ranges are:

• GP Clinics / Medical Centres: $85 – $220 per nightly visit
• Dental Practices: $95 – $260 per nightly visit
• Allied Health Centres: $75 – $200 per nightly visit
• Residential Aged Care: $180 – $520 per daily visit
• Hospitals and Day Surgeries: $280 – $900+ per daily visit
• One-Off Terminal Cleans: $220 – $1,800+ (quoted individually)

All prices exclude GST and are indicative only. Final pricing is provided in a written, itemised quote following a free site assessment. See our Pricing page for a full breakdown of what influences your quote.

No. We offer month-to-month agreements as standard — there is no minimum lock-in period required. If you prefer the certainty of a fixed-term arrangement (six or twelve months), that option is also available and can offer a modest pricing advantage.

We believe our work should keep clients, not our contract terms. If our service does not meet your expectations, you can end the agreement with appropriate notice.

No. The site assessment and written quote are completely free and obligation-free. We visit your facility, document each room and zone, and provide a detailed written quote within 24 hours of the assessment. There is no obligation to proceed and no follow-up pressure if you choose not to continue.

After-hours (post 6pm weekday), early morning (pre 7am) and weekend services carry a modest premium reflecting penalty rates under the applicable modern award. For most healthcare facilities, after-hours cleaning is the preferred arrangement as it avoids any disruption to patients, residents and staff — and the premium is typically modest relative to the overall service cost.

Scheduling options and any applicable timing premiums are discussed and confirmed during the site assessment, so there are no surprises in your written quote.

We offer flexible scheduling to match your facility's operational requirements and compliance obligations. Available frequencies include:

• Daily (7 days): Recommended for high-volume facilities, aged care homes and facilities with strict infection control obligations
• Daily (5 days Mon–Fri): Common for GP clinics and allied health centres with no weekend patients
• Daily (6 days): For facilities open Saturday with reduced Sunday patient load
• Multiple per week: Three or four days per week — common for smaller practices or facilities supplementing their own daily cleaning with specialist oversight
• Weekly: Available for low-volume facilities, although we generally advise against weekly-only cleaning in active clinical environments due to infection control risk

We are happy to discuss the most appropriate frequency for your specific facility type and patient or resident volume.

Yes — after-hours cleaning is available and is the preferred arrangement for most healthcare facilities. Cleaning after patients have left avoids any disruption to clinical consultations, patient flow or resident routines, and ensures that disinfectants have adequate time to act without foot traffic disturbing treated surfaces before they dry.

We offer cleaning from 6pm on weekdays, from 5pm on Saturdays, and Sunday and public holiday scheduling by arrangement. Early morning slots (completing before 7am for early-start clinics) are also available. Your preferred schedule is confirmed in the service agreement before the first visit.

We understand that healthcare facilities occasionally need to adjust their schedules at short notice — for example, following an extended procedure, an emergency admission, or a facility inspection. We ask for as much notice as possible (ideally 24 hours), but we work with facilities to accommodate same-day rescheduling where our operational schedule permits.

All rescheduling requests go directly to your account manager, who can confirm an alternative time promptly. If a clean is missed due to circumstances outside your control, we work with you to schedule a make-up visit at the earliest opportunity — we do not simply skip and charge for a missed visit.

We aim to assign a consistent primary team member or small team to each facility wherever operationally possible. Consistency matters in healthcare cleaning — a cleaner who knows your facility's layout, the specific requirements of each room and the locations of clinical zones and equipment is significantly more effective than someone unfamiliar with the environment.

In cases of leave or illness, cover team members are fully briefed using your facility-specific cleaning specification before attending. Our documentation systems ensure that every team member — regular or cover — follows the same protocols and provides the same compliance records regardless of who completes the clean.

Yes. We maintain 24/7 on-call emergency response for biohazard and outbreak scenarios across metropolitan Melbourne. Our emergency response team can typically be on-site within two hours of an emergency call. Call 0484 042 336 at any time for emergency response.

Emergency scenarios we respond to include:

• Blood spills and major bodily fluid incidents
• Sharps exposures requiring environmental decontamination
• Norovirus, gastroenteritis and gastrointestinal outbreak decontamination
• COVID-19 and other respiratory illness environmental decontamination
• MRSA, C. difficile and other HAI organism decontamination
• Post-flood or water damage contamination response
• Any situation where immediate clinical-grade decontamination is required

When our emergency team arrives on-site, the response process is as follows:

• Assessment: The affected area is assessed and the scope of decontamination is confirmed with the facility manager or infection control lead
• Containment: The area is secured to prevent further spread or contamination of adjacent zones
• PPE and equipment preparation: Full PPE including appropriate level of gown, gloves, eye protection and respiratory protection is donned before entering the affected area
• Decontamination: All affected surfaces are cleaned and disinfected using appropriate sporicidal or broad-spectrum TGA-registered products at correct contact times
• Verification (optional): ATP bioluminescence testing to verify surface cleanliness and confirm the area is cleared for re-use
• Documentation: A written record of the response including products used, areas treated and outcome is provided to the facility manager before departure

Our target response time for emergency calls across metropolitan Melbourne is within two hours of the initial call — and often faster for inner Melbourne locations. Response times to outer suburbs and the Geelong region may be slightly longer depending on traffic and team positioning at the time of the call.

For existing scheduled cleaning clients, emergency response is always treated as the highest priority and team members are dispatched immediately. New clients calling for emergency response are assessed on a capacity basis — we recommend establishing a scheduled cleaning relationship before an emergency occurs to ensure priority access to our emergency response team.

Emergency biohazard and outbreak response is quoted individually based on the scope of the incident — the area affected, the nature of the contaminant, the products required and the duration of the response. We provide a verbal cost estimate before commencing where possible, and a written invoice is provided within 24 hours of the engagement.

For scheduled cleaning clients, emergency response is priced preferentially and invoiced separately from the scheduled cleaning agreement. If you have a $20M public liability insurance policy in place and the incident is covered, we can provide documentation in a format suitable for an insurance claim. Call 0484 042 336 immediately for any emergency — do not delay the call due to uncertainty about costs.