The quandary of care home laundry
The TSA reports that care homes can gain significant benefits from out-sourcing laundry
Most UK care homes process their laundry in-house, but 90% of European care homes outsource their laundry. Now the TSA (Textile Services Association), which represents commercial laundering companies in the UK, is investigating what it describes as “this conundrum."
According to the TSA, outsourcing laundry is more efficient and more sustainable. It also ensures that providers comply with appropriate standards, BS EN 14065 and HTM-01-04.
“Using commercial laundries provides a simple solution for care homes,” says David Stevens, CEO of the TSA. “Outsourcing ensures standards are met and can also help alleviate the problems of staff shortages in the sector and give care home staff more time for residents.”
The TSA also says that in addition to delivering the highest hygiene standards, commercial laundries use fewer resources than in house machines.
On average, a typical care home machine will use 20 to 30 litres of water and consume 3 to 3.5 kW of electricity per kg of washing. A typical commercial laundry uses 3 litres of water and 1.1kW for every kg of washing.
“Commercial laundries already look after a significant proportion of NHS laundry needs so why don’t more UK care homes make use of commercial laundry services,” asks Stevens.
To find the answer, the TSA , in partnership with De Montfort University DMU), commissioned a large scale care home survey. The results, according to the TSA, clearly demonstrate that the care home sector needs support to ensure a hygienic solution and the association is now working with DMU to ensure that training, support and knowledge sharing are developed in partnership for both in-house and outsourced laundry solutions.
The aim is for care homes to be able to make informed decisions when it comes to laundry operations.
The TSA is also organising a benchmarking trip for its members to visit CLOVA, a world-leading care home processing laundry in Belgium, and to see presentations from other laundries specialising in the sector from Germany, Holland and Belgium.
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