More than 700,000 nurses in the United Kingdom wash their uniforms at home, according to a report by Laundry and Cleaning News International.
The National Health Service in the U.K. encourages nurses to maintain and care for healthcare workwear at home, even where outsourcing to a commercial laundry is available. However, research has shown residential washers potentially to be inadequate decontaminators.
Recent research carried out by Leicester’s De Montfort University, supported by the Textile Services Association, suggests that this practice could be hazardous, proving that some home machines are not up to the task of decontaminating clothes.
The research was carried out by DMU’s Infectious Disease Research Group and presented at the Infection Prevention Society Conference in October.
The aim of the research was to assess the ability of home washing machines to meet the minimum disinfection standards set by the NHS.
Six different residential washer models – of different ages and by different manufacturers – were used to ensure the “real world” authenticity of the testing. And the results of this testing confirmed the inadequacy of home washing machines to consistently achieve the essential requirements of heat, chemistry and mechanical action required for decontamination.
In fact, NHS guidelines recommend that healthcare workers launder their uniforms at a water temperature of 140 degrees, yet none of the machines tested reached that temperature – thus leaving the healthcare workers’ households under risk of cross-contamination from pathogens they may bring home from work.
“The TSA has always argued that nurses’ uniforms should be washed professionally,” said David Stevens, CEO at the TSA. “Public Health England and other departments have said there was not enough evidence to prove the inadequacy of domestic washing machines.
“Well, there is now, and it’s based on world-class research from some of the most respected names in the field of infectious diseases.”
