HTM 01-05 cleaning: what the dental nurse does and what the cleaner does

A practice manager drawing up a cleaning contract has to decide where the clinical team's cleaning stops and the contractor's starts. This page reads HTM 01-05 for that one question: who cleans what. How often each room is cleaned is a separate question, and the dental practice cleaning guide covers the frequencies and what the CQC asks a contractor to hold.

Which HTM 01-05 you are working to

Is there a newer HTM 01-05 than 2013?

Not in England. NHS England's publication page for "Health Technical Memorandum 01-05: decontamination in primary care dental practices" gives a first-published date of 26 March 2013 and a page update of 26 January 2024, and the PDF it links is the 2013 edition. Its estates collection still lists the same document, so any practice in England, Uxbridge included, is working to the 2013 text.

Paragraph 2.5 of the 2013 text says the guidance is primarily about medical devices and instruments, then adds that local policies must take a comprehensive view of hygiene and cleanliness across every part of the practice. A contract cleaner fits under that second half.

What happens inside the session

What HTM 01-05 cleaning puts between patients

Paragraph 6.62 lists the items local to the dental chair that are cleaned between each patient: local work surfaces, the dental chair, curing lamps, inspection lights and handles, hand controls including replacement of covers, trolleys and delivery units, spittoons, aspirators and X-ray units. Paragraph 5.3 says a wipe-clean is required after each patient procedure and before the next patient is admitted.

Two more paragraphs add detail. Covers on light handles and headrests don't replace cleaning; they come off and the surface is cleaned after each patient contact (6.65). After some procedures, staff should start cleaning as soon as care of that patient is complete, without waiting for the end of the session (6.70).

Why the chair and unit stay with the clinical team

First, the timing puts the work inside the session. Some of the chair-side equipment, such as spittoons, three-in-one syringes and wet-line suction, is treated as medical devices, and the note under paragraph 6.88 says following the manufacturer's recommended cleaning procedures and chemicals is a requirement for them. Spittoons and aspirating units are also washed through at the end of a session to the manufacturer's instructions (note to 6.63). And the GDC's Scope of Practice guidance, effective from 1 November 2025, lists "preparing the clinical area and equipment for treatment" and maintaining high standards of infection prevention and control among the tasks a dental nurse generally undertakes.

HTM 01-05 doesn't ban anyone else from doing it, though. Paragraph 9.3 lets each practice establish its own system of staff responsibilities, under a Registered Manager and a named lead for infection control and decontamination. So the split is the practice's to set, and a contractor who arrives before the first patient or after the last one cannot be the person doing a between-patient clean.

Instruments and waterlines

Both are clinical work throughout. The practice needs safe procedures for moving contaminated items from the surgery to the decontamination area (2.9), and an instrument that is dropped goes back for reprocessing (6.56). For dental unit waterlines, HTM 01-05 says practices should engage an external specialist through the Registered Manager (the note before 6.75), and it sets flushing at the start and end of the day and for at least 20-30 seconds between patients (6.85). Self-contained water bottles are removed, flushed and left to dry overnight (6.83). None of this goes on a cleaning specification.

The decontamination room

What HTM 01-05 says about cleaning in there

For the decontamination room, HTM 01-05 says a lot about surfaces and little about who cleans them. Surfaces and equipment used in instrument decontamination are cleaned before and after each decontamination cycle, to written local policies (6.37). The dirty-zone bench that receives contaminated instruments is used for no other activity (5.7). Washer-disinfectors, sterilizers, ultrasonic baths and RO machines may need purpose-designed cleaning processes, written with help from a decontamination engineer or other trained person (6.50 and 6.51).

Each of those is tied to a cycle or a machine, so it sits with the people running the cycles. HTM 01-05 says nothing about whether a contract cleaner may mop the floor or wipe the walls. It does say the flooring in clinical and decontamination areas should be impervious, easily cleanable and never carpeted (6.47). If a contractor is to clean the floor here, the practice decides that and writes it down.

Waste, spills and what turns up on the floor

Clinical waste, sharps and spillages

HTM 01-05 asks each practice for a waste disposal policy covering clinical waste, and for a spillage procedure under its COSHH arrangements (2.6). Blood spillages follow a protocol that protects against infection (6.74). It does not hand any of these to a cleaner. The duties around sharps containers, and Hillingdon's rule on hazardous material in business bins, are in the dental practice cleaning guide.

A few of HTM 01-05's general cleaning rules apply to whoever is cleaning, contractor included. The more contaminated areas are cleaned first (6.54), with disposable cloths wetted with clean water and detergent, and dry cleaning is avoided because it raises dust (6.67 and 6.68). And minor defects, wear or damage found during cleaning are reported to the responsible person (6.53). Dental chairs should be free from visible damage such as rips and tears (note to 6.62), so a torn chair seat spotted while cleaning is one of the things to report.

The split, item by item

Every row says where it comes from. Where HTM 01-05 or the GDC is silent, the row says so, and the allocation is the practice's own decision.

Crystal Clear Cleans' own commercial cleaning page already says clinical decontamination and instrument processing aren't part of a cleaning contract. The office and commercial cleaning page covers how the written specification, keys and alarms are set up. Crystal Clear Cleans works in Uxbridge and the London Boroughs of Hillingdon, Ealing and Hounslow, between 6am and 10pm, seven days a week, and the cleaners are DBS checked and insured. Send your room list, with the clinical team's items marked, through the quote form.