Tracey Sopp, our Managing Director, spent time with the team who keep our hospitals supplied with clean laundry and linen every single day. The small team handles items from across Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW).
All laundry is processed on site and items such as duvet covers, curtains, and our own kit such as mop heads are washed in house on site. Other items such as sheets and towels are owned and washed by a contractor. The team also wash some patient clothing and everything arrives mixed together and is sorted by hand.
The laundry is small and space is tight so the processes are lean. With no space for storage, the only laundry on site is either waiting to be washed or waiting to go back to wards.
The team immediately know what linen belongs where because each ward uses a distinctive duvet cover with a unique design. To make things trickier there are two wards that share the same pattern so they have to be checked.
The team had submitted several ideas for innovations through our Bright Ideas scheme and they worked with the Assistant Site Manager and together they have changed the way they work. Paperwork has gone digital and the work schedule has been updated. This means there’s always something ready for Porters to take out whenever they make a delivery. It means less waiting for Porters and less pressure on laundry staff, with a steady, calmer flow through the day.
Tracey heard that one of the more memorable jobs was cleaning a ball pool which is used by clinical teams for therapeutic purposes. There was a lot to think through, including checking temperatures so the balls wouldn’t melt but making sure they would get cleaned, and testing safe load sizes for the machines.
Occasionally items turn up at the laundry which shouldn’t be there, from false teeth to mobile phones and everything in between. The team do their level best to trace where items have come from and return them to the ward.
Although the core Laundry team is small, colleagues elsewhere on site are trained to step in when needed and there’s a real team spirit. Space is at a premium, so the service is lean and well organised and the team take pride in making sure the right items are washed at the right time.
