Mum's cleaner using wrong sponges - how worrying is this?

[Itsfreezingcold]

Mum instructed her cleaner which sponge to use on the kitchen floor and which one to use on the surfaces.
She just found out that the cleaner has been doing the opposite, for a long time.
So Mum has, herself, been using a sponge on the surfaces and sometimes the dishes (she usually uses the dishwasher) that has been used on the floor. She says she tends not to put things directly on the countertop.
She has mild digestive symptoms which I attributed to stress and medicines.
I sent a message to the GP, but wondering how worried I should be.

You don't sound well.

I haven't got time to read the whole thread, but I'd be throwing away every sponge if they've been used for quite a while and starting again. Colour code everything eg blue for loo, green for floor, pink for worktops etc, and wash/sterilise all cloths & sponges after each visit from the cleaner. Just drop them all into a bucket with disinfectant in, leave for an hour then wash them.

How worried should you be?

Literally zero worried.

This

confused….

Honestly I'm sure this is a non issue. I assume sponges get rinsed/washed and cleaning fluids are much the same no matter where they're intended for, especially once they are dry. So unless Mum is putting food down on sopping wet cleaning solution and then eating it, she's not going to be ingesting it.

Why is the cleaner using sponges the same size as the dish sponges to wash the floor anyway?

Along with, why on earth is she cleaning the floor with a small sponge, why are they also seemingly stored so close to each other such a mistake can be made? Why is the dishes sponge stored with the floor sponge? If you're both that terrified of a floor sponge?
Also, if she has a cleaner who is regular scrubbing floors with a sponge, I'd say her floors are exceptionally clean and there's not a lot to worry about!

But the sensible thing to do is to sort the sponge issue and see if the stomach issues clear up, not email the GP surgery.

All the GP can do is wait too but he/she is probably legally obliged to acknowledge the communication, scan and attach it to the patient notes and it all costs. Imagine if we all emailed our GP when we come up with a theory about a health issue, especially with Dr. Google in the mix. They would have to employ staff just answering batshit emails all day.

And people think you can’t see a GP because we all work “part-time”. No, it’s because we spend hours each day dealing with stuff like this 🤦🏼‍♀️

I feel your pain!

Is anyone else on here thinking about their own questionable kitchen practices and sitting on their hands?

You are very bold (naughty)
😂😂😂😂

Yes it is to do with cross contamination and infection control, in areas where there are vast amounts of people, vast amounts of pathogens of all different types, vast amounts of people doing the cleaning, and very often little facilities to hygienically cleaning the cleaning equipment.

In the case of the OP, if a sponge has been used on the floor of her mum's kitchen, whilst it's far from ideal to have been used for anything else, it will have been washed out before being used on dishes.

What is much more concerning is that sponges are being used this way in a more general sense, because it sounds like the sponges are not being plunged into boiling water after use to thoroughly clean them, and given that the problem appears to have been going on for a while, I have to question how long these sponges have been in use.

Even if sponges had been kept seperate, the process in this home is flawed anyway.The mother is more likely to fall ill from continually washing up with a sponge that is used day in, day out, and never sanitised.

And don't bank on professional cleaners to be any more diligent than the cleaner in the scenario here - I worked in the industry for far too long to know that it's no guarantee.

Not me, no. All my kitchen clothes and sponges are single-use and put out for a boil wash after use. I detest wet materials in kitchens - I could heave at the thought of using a tea towel more than once before laundering it. There's nothing hanging to dry where I live.

I hope this one is a joke. What would the difference be between dirt from a hob and dirt from dishes.

I wouldn’t be happy about what this cleaner has been doing she must be very slovenly or totally clueless.

If she has always used one sponge for floors & one for surfaces she might be neither of those things!

Yes and wondering how the human race could possibly have survived up to this when all the mod cons weren't available.
😂

Well, we are living much, much longer these days.

Well that's true @beenonthebox

I'm stunned you've messaged a GP about this what on earth????

Cleaning fluid.

GP referred Mum to a gastroenterologist, who will see her soon.

Many thanks to the kind and helpful MNers on this thread.

Snarky, bullying comments are never worthy of a response.

Which is a problem because??

A GP has referred your mum for mild digestive symptoms without seeing her?
If she never puts anything direct into worktop how is the cleaning methods to blame?
Get a mop for the floor not a similar sponge to surfaces, also do you not wash or replace these sponges?

Good luck with being seen soon
Ive waited a year for a gynae appointment and my "urgent" surgery is within the next 6 months

Yet GPs are referring for mild digestive symptoms without seeing a patient?

Different speciality but explains the wait times