Implementing effective infection control
Clare Long, business account manager for care at the Professional Division of Miele, discusses effective infection control for care facilities… An infection control plan is a series of policies and procedures that every care home should have in place to ensure hygienic standards, prevent the spread of infection and keep residents, staff and visitors safe in the care environment. Even the most conscientious team can struggle to control infectious diseases if they don’t have guidelines to follow, and this is where your documented infection control plan comes in really useful. Here are some of the factors and regulations to take into account when introducing or revising your infection control plan for laundry procedures: 1. Hand hygiene This is the single most important factor for preventing the spread of infection and should underpin the rest of your policy. It’s vital for staff, visitors and residents to effectively wash and disinfect their hands to ensure they’re not transferring harmful germs or micro-organisms to other people, equipment or surfaces. Your individual policy should define the process that should be followed and when, for example after ‘hands-on’ contact with a resident. 2. Personal protection Your plan needs to define if and when staff should use personal protection. Carefully consider all the instances where personal protection measures may need to be taken and define the process. For example, an employee may need to use gloves and an apron to load soiled laundry into the washing machine. They should remove these and dispose of them safely before handling clean laundry at the end of the cycle or moving onto a different task. 3. Effective decontamination Dealing with waste and potentially infectious substances as a carer is often inevitable, but it’s vital to make sure that any soiled items are effectively decontaminated. Consider a sluice sink to remove as much residue as possible from soiled materials before entering the washing cycle. Ensure you’re equipped with quality commercial machines that are capable of handling larger loads and consistently washing to a safe standard. Once the washing cycle has finished, take care to prevent cross-contamination by ensuring clean washing does not come into contact with dirty items. 4. Regulation of infection control It’s vital to ensure industry guidelines and regulations are being met across different operations and the infection control plan is an effective way of ensuring your processes comply. The NHS infection control guidelines (HTM 01-04) define the decontamination of linen for health and social care. Your appliances should be tested and approved as being able to meet these conditions and be able to hold washing at either 10 minutes at 65⁰C or over, three minutes at 75⁰C or over or one minute at 85⁰C or over. 5. Brief staff Employees need to be thoroughly briefed and up-to-date with the correct procedures, particularly in the operational areas that might experience higher-than-usual staff turnover, like the laundry room. Ensure your infection control plan is properly communicated, easy to understand and accessible at all times. See miele.co.uk for information on cleaning products, domestic appliances and infection control.
Essential Healthcare Solutions get tough on cross infection prevention with Miele
Eradicating potentially harmful bugs such as C.diff, MRSA and Norovirus is just one of the tasks Essential Healthcare Solutions performs daily. As a specialist provider in medical equipment and service, the Yorkshire-based organisation supplies, decontaminates and services Dynamic Air Mattresses for the NHS and care homes throughout the UK. The mattresses are specifically designed for the needs of hospital patients and care home residents, to alleviate areas of pressure and provide comfort for those who spend long periods of time in bed. When the mattress is no longer required by a patient, it is returned to Essential for specialist cleaning, decontamination, servicing or repair. Essential Healthcare Solutions can have in excess of 300 of its mattresses in just one hospital. The organisation cyclically processes equipment delivery, collection for decontamination and redelivery to the site. It is pivotal that each stage of this process is managed efficiently, and that laundry processes are consistently carried out to the required high standards to ensure the decontamination process has been carried out effectively. Helping to raise standards At Essential Healthcare Solution’s decontamination centre, mattresses go through a wash-based disinfection process to remove any traces of potential contamination. Due to the nature of the equipment it launders, compliance with the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS) to provide backflow protection is a legal requirement. In order to meet the Department of Health’s standards for controlling infection in laundry, the correct choice of machinery is key for this rigorous process. Mattress care during the wash cycle is always a priority for Essential. Ensuring all laundry processes meet industry regulations; Essential created specific internal processes to handle large volumes of specialist mattress decontamination with high temperature requirements. Essential turned to local commercial laundry equipment service provider – JTM Service – to equip its decontamination centre. Extensive experience working with the NHS and Care Homes meant JTM Service understood the pressures Essential faced handling large loads quickly and effectively, while mitigating cross infection risk and delivering outstanding cleaning performance. The rigorous demands placed on the machines show it is vital the recommended equipment is economical, energy efficient, robust, reliable, and built to last. JTM recognised that Essential’s specialist requirements are most effectively met by Miele’s high performance and quality, commercial washing machines. JTM installed two Miele PW814 Performance Plus machines which not only ensure Essential’s strict hygiene requirements for safe disinfection are met, but are also WRAS approved. With 14kg capacity, the machines are able to easily manage the size and speciality of the loads that Essential launder daily. A NeQis System supplied by JTM is in use. This independent, third party, validation system provides real time records and reports to verify that each wash cycle has met the required decontamination standards. Up to the job JTM installed two Miele PT8403 Professional dryers with capacity equal to the washing machines, ensuring the mattresses are thoroughly dried. Essential benefits from the longevity assurance that comes with the Miele brand. Miele machines are fully tested post build to last 30,000 hours. Over ten years, that is – eight hours use a day, 365 days per year. Miele machines’ drum technology is gentle on fabric and prevents damage to the external fabric of the mattresses. Thomas Owens, managing director, Essential Healthcare Solutions said: “The JTM team understood the challenges we face when it comes to laundering large items and our need to ensure our processes meet rigorous decontamination standards.” “JTM was not only able to meet our demands in terms of finding us the best equipment for the job, but was also able to offer us the best ongoing support and maintenance so that we remain operational at all times.” Building work is underway to significantly expand the decontamination facilities, Essential will be looking to JTM and Miele again to equip its new facility to the same high standard. The new, larger decontamination centre will help the medical equipment provider make a positive impact to the quality of people’s lives while continuing to help raise the standard of care.
