Exploring the evolution of care home laundries

When looking to implement an efficient facilities management strategy, a care home's on-premises laundry (OPL) forms an integral piece of the puzzle. Big or small, old or new, an OPL is the solution to a care home's never-ending need for a steady stream of clean linen, staff uniforms, or even PPE.

It is hard to believe that we are now half a decade on from the emergence of COVID-19, and it would be easy to suggest that the pandemic resulted in the introduction of a host of stringent hygiene requirements relevant to an OPL. The reality, however, is that total hygiene control has always been paramount in the care home environment, in the interest of preventing cross-contamination and the subsequent spread of disease and bacteria, such as influenza, MRSA, and C. diff.

Care homes built following the pandemic have reacted by ramping up laundry operations to incorporate the latest equipment, such as barrier washers and commercial ironers, in a move to create a sterile and productive environment geared towards long-term cost and energy savings. Yet it is just as important to consider the homes that were here long before the pandemic, where space and budgetary restrictions often make opting for such commercial-grade equipment impossible. Before exploring pain points — many of which are relevant to both applications — what does a typical care home laundry look like? Specifically, how are new build setups evolving?