Laundry
A best practice guide to laundry cycle management
While ensuring a sterile environment is always a priority for on-premises laundries, maintaining effective laundry cycle management is essential to eliminating the risk of cross contamination and preventing the spread of infection. Mick Christian, training & demonstration manager for Electrolux Professional UK & Ireland, outlines best practice for care home laundries and outlines how new technologies can help laundry managers enhance both hygiene and productivity
It is safe to say that an on-premises laundry (OPL) forms a critical component of any care home’s facilities management strategy. Both residents and staff alike require a steady stream of clean linen every day. From bed clothes and gowns to staff uniforms and PPE, total hygiene control is paramount. The reality, however, is that these items represent just a fraction of any given care home’s laundry load each day. Without effective separation and hygiene control, the cross contamination of different laundry items could prove to be a catalyst for the spread of disease and bacteria. In turn, this could then compromise the health and safety of staff, visitors, and other residents – many of whom may already be classed as vulnerable. Taking these considerations into account, the scale of the challenge faced by care home laundry managers is clear.
With hundreds, if not thousands, of items collected, washed and returned each day, ensuring consistent and stringent hygiene standards is – excuse the pun – a never- ending cycle.
Ensuring safe categorisation and collection Key to ensuring best practice for any OPL is correctly categorising laundry, ensuring that dirty, soiled and clean linen is kept separate to prevent the risk of cross-contamination. Laundry segregation is imperative in the care home environment for this reason. Residents may have different types of illnesses, such as influenza, MRSA and C. diff, and washing their laundry together may well be a recipe for disaster.
If contaminated laundry is mixed with uncontaminated laundry, bacteria or viruses can easily spread to other residents
or staff members, leading to an outbreak. As a result, laundry should be categorised according to factors such as the risk of cross- contamination or infection. Staff should collect bed linen, towels, and clothing of residents with known infections separately, using PPE such as disposable gloves, aprons, and masks when placing them into appropriately sealed soluble bags. To further minimise transmission to the wider care home environment, used linen should never be left on the floor or in an open space, and should be transported using dedicated routes within the care home. From here, wet or soiled infected items should be wrapped inside dry items so as to not compromise the structural integrity of the bag before it reaches the wash. To ensure maximum safety, staff are encouraged to follow a method popular among NHS health estates, whereby linen bags are tied securely using the ‘swan neck’ method. This involves: n Holding the bag by the neck and twist until tight.
n Folding the neck over to form a ‘swan neck’.
n Fastening with seal until secure.
Crucially, this method eliminates the risk of any dirty laundry spilling out once collected. All bags should be labelled with identification tape to help aid collection and redistribution, indicating the owner of personal items such as clothing. This will prevent confusion and avoid any mistakes involving certain items that may require special handling.
As with the linen bags, the laundry room should be managed with complete precision to ensure optimal hygiene standards. Visible
July 2024
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