A 360 Approach to Laundry

By Nicky Whittaker, National Account Manager at Miele Professional

Nicky Whittaker has over 15 years’ experience in the commercial laundry sector and specialises in the Care & Social Housing sector. In this article, she explores the concept of a 360 approach to a care home’s laundry room, highlights its key elements and benefits.

The laundry room is undoubtedly one of the most complex spaces in a care home, requiring a unique blend of functionality, safety, and efficiency. Designing an on-premise laundry (OPL) for a care setting involves much more than simply installing appliances in a dedicated space, as key considerations must include access, utilisation, and hygiene. A well-planned laundry can make all the difference in the everyday running of a care home; it can significantly enhance staff efficiency, reduce turnaround times, and improve infection control.

Therefore, when it comes to designing and planning a laundry room, every step must be carefully considered – from the design and installation to the operation and maintenance, even the choice of commercial machinery. So, when the time come for to choosing a supplier, care homes looking to streamline their operations should seek out a partner that offers a comprehensive 360 approach to laundry.

Design and creation

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach when designing and planning a laundry room in a care home. Numerous aspects must be meticulously examined to determine the best overall approach.

Location: The first step is to consider where the laundry room will be located in the home. Ideally, laundry rooms should be on the ground floor to support easier installation and servicing. Additionally, the overall accessibility of the site must be considered for the delivery of large machines. Physical restrictions, such as narrow doorways, can make installation more challenging, especially in older buildings. Therefore, it’s important to identify any issues upfront so that alternative methods can be established. Miele Professional’s Little Giants washer and dryer range can provide the perfect solution for laundry rooms with limited space, thanks to their compact footprint of less than 1.5 m².

The laundry must also be equipped for ventilation, water supply and drainage. The ideal location for laundry rooms would be one with reasonable lengths of external wall so windows can be factored in for ventilation, and ducts and exhaust points can be kept away from resident areas.

Laundry size and layout: Once the location has been decided, it’s time to plan the room layout, keeping in mind the size of the machinery. The number of residents in the home will determine the size of the machines required. In residential homes, the industry standard for calculating laundry needs is based on 0.6 – 0.75 kg per resident for nursing homes. The room should also be large enough to fit the machines and to enable the smooth movement of people and laundry around the space. Staff must be able to move equipment such as trolleys, racking and ironers within the space, without the risk of injuring themselves or anyone else.

The layout of laundry rooms is strategic, supporting infection control and prevention. ‘A clean to dirty flow’ is the systematic and physical separation of soiled laundry from clean laundry throughout the entire laundering process. This is essential to prevent cross-contamination.

In compliance with the DoH Health Technical Memorandum 01-04, dirty and soiled linen must be stored and processed separately from clean linen. Therefore, laundry rooms are typically divided into segregated areas. It is recommended that soiled linen (which is soiled, blood-contaminated, or used by someone with an infection) be stored in sealed, color-coded bags that are only opened when being loaded into the machine, or in red alginate (water soluble) bags that can be placed directly into the machine.

Equipment: Laundry plays a central role in upholding infection control within care homes. Contaminated and soiled linen can pose health risks, so laundry equipment must be able to reach and maintain high temperatures to kill bacteria and viruses. The Department of Health’s Health Technical Memorandum 01-04 states that washing should be held at either 71°C for at least three minutes, or 65°C for at least 10 minutes, for effective thermal decontamination to take place.  This requirement can only be met by commercial machines.

At Miele Professional, we have developed commercial laundry equipment with programmes capable of handling critical soils and pathogens, tailored to the specific demands of the care sector. For example, our Benchmark washing machines include Thermal and Chemo-thermal disinfection programmes to ensure hygiene compliance, preventing the spread of infection.

Operation and maintenance

Tackling multiple loads of laundry each day means machines must be built to withstand the frequent and heavy use that is typically required in care homes. There isn’t time for breakdowns or maintenance on laundry machines, as this can significantly impact daily operations within the home. For example, at Miele Professional, our laundry products are tested to run for up to 30,000 cycles. This provides peace of mind to laundry managers that their equipment is built to last and reduces lifecycle costs.

To keep your commercial machines in the best condition possible, regular maintenance is always recommended, and this is provided by our Miele Professional service technicians. Furthermore, should your equipment need servicing, these same technicians also cover emergency breakdowns to ensure that all of our customers stay operational 24/7, which is vital in demanding care environments.

A comprehensive approach

For procurement managers, finding and hiring various suppliers to support each stage of the process can not only be time consuming but also costly. At Miele Professional, we can make this easy for your business by providing a comprehensive 360 approach for care homes looking to design and plan their laundry rooms, supporting you at every step of the way. Our service doesn’t end there; our 360 approach includes regular maintenance and servicing visits by a qualified Miele Professional technician, as well as remote customer support.

At Miele Professional, we have been supporting our customers in the care sector for many years. For more information on how we can support your business, please visit: www.miele.co.uk/p/retirement-care-homes-4053.htm