A total of 600 extra cleaners are to be employed in Scotland's hospitals to tackle infections on the wards.
Funding for new council homes in Scotland will be doubled to £50m, deputy first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.
The move was announced by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon on the first day of the SNP spring conference.
She told the SNP spring conference the move would help build 2,000 new houses and support 3,000 construction industry jobs, at a time of recession.
The two-day gathering in Glasgow, which comes as the party celebrates its 75th anniversary, will also focus on skills to tackle the recession.
Ms Sturgeon also said 600 extra cleaners would be employed in hospitals to tackle infection on the wards.
She urged delegates to work hard to win seats in the European elections.
Ms Sturgeon told the conference in Glasgow that the responsibility to stand up for and lead Scotland had never been greater than it was now.
"We live in the toughest of economic times," she said.
"People are worried about their jobs, their mortgages and their pensions.
"But let there be no doubt - no doubt at all - that as a country, we've got what it takes to get through these tough times."
Ms Sturgeon added: "We must reassert out traditional values of probity, thrift and a commitment to hard work."
Ahead of the conference, senior party figures attended the funeral of SNP veteran Sir Neil MacCormick.
Ahead of the conference, senior party figures attended the funeral of SNP veteran Sir Neil MacCormick.
The former Nationalist MEP and long-serving law professor recently died from cancer at the age of 67.
The former Nationalist MEP and long-serving law professor recently died from cancer at the age of 67.
We have an obligation to provide the highest standard of cleanliness Nicola Sturgeon
Delegates will open the conference with a minute silence in tribute to Sir Neil, as well as the late Nationalist MSP Bashir Ahmad - Holyrood's first Scots-Asian politician - who died in February at the age of 68.
In her keynote speech to members of the party faithful, Ms Sturgeon, also Scotland's deputy first minister, will outline the recruitment of hundreds of full and part-time cleaners across Scotland - employed directly by the NHS, rather than contractors.
She told BBC Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme: "These jobs will make a big difference.
"We are already seeing progress in hospitals with infections coming down but I think we can do much more.
"These extra cleaners, costing £5m a year, will help a great deal."
Other measures
Ms Sturgeon said each NHS board would be given an allocation of cleaners and said that in the case of Greater Glasgow and Clyde this amounted to 170 extra staff.
"I know from speaking to patients and their families that standards of hygiene and cleanliness are very important.
"We have an obligation to provide the highest standard of cleanliness."
She added that the investment would provide a much-needed jobs boost during tough economic times.
Ms Sturgeon will tell the conference she intends to go further on hospital cleanliness in the wake of earlier announcements, which included a hospital standards inspectorate and a ban on the further privatisation of hospital cleaning contracts.
"Nothing is more important to me personally than driving down the rates of infection in our hospitals," said Ms Sturgeon.
"Hospital infections cause pain, distress and suffering for patients and their families. And they undermine confidence in our NHS.
"That is why beating them is a battle I am determined to win."
