LAUNDRY Germ-Free, Fresh & Fabulous
Camira explore the importance of keeping care home fabrics clean and germ-free before they reach the laundry stage. Camira’s Product Manager for Healthcare, Harriet Green, tells us more about why preventative action is always key.
Interior design is becoming a commercial priority for many care homes and care groups, as they switch from old-fashioned institutional concepts to a more homely, luxurious feel.
The considered design of a care home interior should exude quality and a professional image, as well as contribute to the comfort and wellbeing of the residents living within that space.
Although there is the need for a focus on aesthetics, and a less institutional look, every aspect of a care home still needs to be functional and enable a good standard of care.
Low maintenance design solutions are required in high traffic, high demand settings, to allow staff to maintain and clean surfaces effectively, including fabrics.
Optimising cleanability without sacrificing design and comfort is the ultimate aim. Seating within care home environments is usually manufactured to order, with the customer selecting which fabric the chair will be covered in.
Which Fabric is Best? Specialist healthcare fabrics are highly sophisticated engineered solutions. For many customers their first thought of specialist fabrics may conjure images of the ‘wipe and go’ vinyl. Although there is most certainly a place for vinyl within care home environments, it isn’t the only option when looking for cleanability, performance, and durability.
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Accidents do happen and the cleaning up of bodily waste is a given situation in most care homes. When specifying fabric it makes sense to find the right product for the practical demands and time constraints staff are faced with.
Performance fabrics are now so advanced that aside from offering waterproof, stain repellent, and flame retardant properties, they can also have a domestic appearance whilst providing an extra layer of protection from infection with germ proof anti- microbial products.
Before choosing fabrics for your care home think about removing the risk of exposure to nasty infections and bugs, as well as the robustness required from a regular cleaning schedule.
Questions you should ask include how is the fabric waterproof? Does the fabric have anti-microbial treatment? How long will the fabric treatments last? Are the applied fabric treatments toxic? Will they cause allergic reactions? Has the fabric been tested? Is it easy to clean? Does it meet the required flammability standards - an essential requirement as it means the fabric meets with stringent safety requirements set by British Standards for use in public settings.
An anti-microbial treatment should be permanent, regardless of the number of times it is cleaned. Ask for reassurance that the fabric will still perform to infection control standards once it has been in use and cleaned.
If the fabric isn’t post-treated to make it waterproof - preventing water passing through to the foam - it isn’t waterproof unless it’s vinyl. Again ask for reassurance.
Keeping Things
Spick and Span Yorkshire-based textile manufacturer Camira has pioneered their own concept of anti-microbial fabrics.
As a result of extensive research conducted with NHS Trusts and their cleaning staff, Camira have used intelligent design to combat the opinion amongst cleaning staff that fabrics in healthcare settings lack cleanability due to the weave, retaining substances in the grooves.
As a result of the research, Camira designed and now manufacture three completely flat weaves; Blossom, Aspen, and Linden, which are tight, scrubbable and treated with a permanent germ free solution branded in-house called TriOnyx.
The treatment consists of an anti- microbial and anti-fungal treatment called mædical™ to deactivate micro- organisms, including the bacteria that causes MRSA, salmonella, Aspergilus Niger, Penicillum, E. coli, and Cladosporium herbarum. It then receives, a kinder to the environment, stain repellent treatment before bonding to an impervious waterproof PU membrane, which means any spills or accidents do not seep through to the structure or foam within the chair.
www.tomorrowscare.co.uk
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