CREATING THE RIGHT CHEMISTRY
Here, Alistair Blair-Davies, Hydro System’s Global Director of Brand & Marketing Communications, discusses infection prevention in hospital laundry.
For hospitals, providing clean laundry is about more than a crisp, well-made bed – it also forms an important part of each facility’s infection prevention procedures. Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) cost the NHS roughly £1bn every year, while keeping patients in hospital for an extra 3.6 million days each year – diverting already-stretched resources away from new admittances.
The challenge for healthcare facilities is that the laundry industry is constantly evolving. Hospitals that previously brought the laundry process in-house, are now becoming a victim of the harsh economies of scale in the sector.
As the volume of laundry processed escalates, delivering effective services at the right cost requires an increasingly sophisticated balancing act. Hospitals could look to work with a specialist external partner, but the incidences of infections, such as MRSA, are increased 50% by the use of outsourced laundry services.
The pressures on in-house laundry managers are considerable. They are routinely taking on more responsibility, including having to stay on top of the latest developments in the chemical dispensing systems that enable them to keep up with the increased volume and maintain cost-efficiency. Technology that can contribute to achieving or sustaining this process is fundamental and prized.
32 | HEALTHCARE HYGIENE
Launching a disruptive technology into this sector, however, is challenging. Especially if it claims to remove fundamental lifetime costs and address issues of wear that have the potential to disturb the key premise of accurate chemical dosing. This is primarily down to the fact that chemical dispensing technology is at the very frontline of the process of fine-tuning that is required to keep a highly automated plant, with a considerable volume of material handling, in continuous and efficient operation.
The relentless pressure on overheads means that, although hospitals are open to innovations that improve their cleaning performance, they have to know that the innovation also contributes equally to their ability to remain within tight budgets.
Conversely, this can produce a conservative response to new technology. Potential customers are invariably as concerned with negative effects as they are with any powerful testimony you provide. This is because it only takes a small negative impact on the quality of the cleaning, and the chemical costs involved, to raise concerns about infection control – and the potential effect on patient safety.
Many in-house laundries will often revert to a narrow immediate focus in the face of new technology. With my existing budget so tight, how can I justify incurring the extra expense?
Also; how quickly will the unit start showing the added cost efficiency?
A broad approach is key to your response. Stress the bigger picture. In particular, the costs and benefits of a unit over its entire life-cycle. This allows the end user and the hospital administrators involved to think holistically about not just the chemical, but the dosing system and consequently the effects on the laundry, including environmental and financial impact.
Share the science, such as demonstrating chemical compatibility and the accelerated lifetime testing process, to build confidence. Highlight expertise and the support for installation and beyond. Customers will attempt to find a weakness – as if what you are showing them is ‘too good to be true’. Work out costs so they can see a return and gain absolute certainty of the accuracy involved.
This is a vital part of innovation – moving past the industry, not just with the technology but in this process of working with customers to deliver them peace of mind. Differentiation is key; not just in proclaiming the disruptive technology, but in lifting your approach from the standard sales claims of your competitors. Ultimately giving in-house hospital laundries the technology they need to not just get by, but to provide a service that puts infection prevention and patient safety at the heart of its operations.
www.hydrosystemseurope.com twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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