Standard Operating Procedure of Laundry Department

Powered by Laundry Supervisor
Laundry Protocols for RTEH (Campus)
Managed by (The Indus Hospital)
(R.T.E.H Campus) Muzaffar Garh
AAA FACILITY MANAGEMENT (Pvt) Ltd.
Powered by Laundry Supervisor | Tanveer Latif
Campus) Muzaffar Garh
1/1/2017

AAA Facility Management (Pvt) Ltd.
Prepared by: Tanveer Latif (Laundry Supervisor) Page 2
1. INTRODUCTION:
The clean bedding and clean clothes instill confidence in the patients and
the public and enhances their faith in the services rendered by the
hospital. Linen and laundry is a recognized support service which not
only ensures prevention and containment of hospital infection but also
contributes to improving the image of the hospital in the eyes of public.
2. AIM:
The aim of the Laundry Department is to provide adequate supply of clean linen to all
the hospital departments conforming to highest standards of cleanliness and
hygiene immediately and constantly for routine and emergency use from a central
place.
OBJECTIVES:
The objectives of the Laundry Department are as follows:
To ensure adequate supply of linen to user departments as per requirement
To provide linen free of dirt and stains to all User Departments.
To take steps for prevention of cross-infection.
To monitor and enforce controls necessary to prevent spoilage (wear & tear due to Washing)
of linen and reduce the frequency of linen turn over by increasing its life
Period.
To maintain record of effectiveness of cleaning, disinfection and turnover.
To stay updated regarding developments in the field in the interest of efficiency,
Accuracy and provision of better patient care.
Standard Operating Procedure (S.O.P) of Laundry Department

3. FUNCTIONS OF LAUNDRY DEPARTMENT
Functional flow of activities in Laundry is as follows:
• Receipt of Articles: To receive used and dirty linen from various user departments
Like operation theatres, ICUs, emergency, IPD, OPD and radiology etc.
• Cleaning & Disinfection: All reusable linen is thoroughly cleaned with
bleaching Powder/ caustic soda and disinfected using disinfectants
depending upon the type of linen.
• Washing: after disinfection linen is washed in the washing area by following proper
guidelines.
• Inspection and Assembly: Each item to be washed is inspected for wear & tears,
Defects, stains and then appropriately put in the washing machine. After washing,
the linen is drained off for excess water using hydro extractor and dried in drier
before assembling for press in the pressing machine. The operation of the machines
shall be entrusted to responsible and fully trained person. It should be kept in a
state of good maintenance and repair.
• Clean Linen Storage: Clean linen is stored in the central linen store. Clean storage
Environment is designed primarily to prevent contamination of Clean Linen.
• Distribution: Refers to distribution of clean goods to the patient care areas and
User departments OT, IPD, OPD, casualty etc.
4. CLASSIFICATION OF LINEN:
1. Classification based on category of linen
• General Purpose linen: This includes curtains, drapes, table clothes and
similar items commonly used in all parts of the hospital .This is the linen
which is not used for patient care.
• Patient linen: This consists of patient clothing such as patient
pajamas, shirts, gown, coats etc. worn by patients.
• Bed linen: This consists of patient bed clothing such as bed sheets, pillow
covers, blankets used by the patient.
• OT, Labor room , Procedure room linen : This includes items such as
pajamas, kurtas, gowns, coats, shirts etc. worn by surgeons, anesthetists,
OT personnel’s and also surgical, gowns, caps, masks, trolley covers, OT
towels etc. required in OT , labor room and procedure room.
2. Classification based on colour of linen
• Ward Linen: This linen should be white in colour.
• Operation Theatre Linen: This should be green in colour including
doctor’s gown.
• Patient Linen: This should be blue in colour.

5. QUANTIFICATION OF HOSPITAL LINEN:
Hospital should have 6 sets of linen per bed. It is calculated as per following:
One already in use ( on bed)
One ready to use (in sub store)
On en-route to laundry.
One in washing cycle in laundry.
Two in stock ( in central store)
As per the standard guidelines the detailed requirement of linen per bed is as follows:
1. Bed sheets: 6 per bed
2. Draw sheet: 6 per bed
3. Pillow cover: 4 per bed
4. Blanket: 4 per bed
5. Pillow: 2per bed
6. Mortuary sheet: 6 per bed
7. Patient Dress: 4 pairs
8. Towel: 2 per bed
9. Doctor’s coat: 3 per Doctor
10. Doctor’s towel: 6 per ward
OT linen, labor room and procedure room linen is determined based on anticipated
workload. Thus for a 100 bedded hospital approximately 600 hundred bed sheets are
required.
6. CLASSIFICATION OF LINEN FOR LAUNDRY PURPOSE:
From laundering point of view, hospital linen is classified into following categories:
1. Dirty linen: used linen without any stains.
2. Soiled linen: linen soiled with blood and body fluids.
3. Infected linen: any linen used by a patient with a known infection weather
soiled or not.
This classification is very much beneficial in terms of segregation at the point of
generation. Accordingly the dirty, soiled and infected linen is segregated into separate
colored bags and transported to the laundry.

7. LABELLING OF LINEN FOR IDENTIFICATION
Linen should be labeled with the name of the hospital and type of linen. The
proposed method for identification of the Linen is to label the linen on name as
follows:
Name of the Organization: The Indus Hospital
(R.T.E.H Campus) Muzaffargarh.
Name of the Departments:
Ward 1st Floor (Yellow Tagging)
Ward 2nd Floor (Orange Tagging)
Ward I.C.U 1st Floor (Blue Tagging)
Operation Theater (Green Tagging)
Emergency Ward (Red Tagging)
Filter clinic (Brown Tagging)
Lithotripsy clinic (Pink Tagging)
8. CLASSIFICATION OF LAUNDRY SYSTEM
Laundry service can be in-house or outsourced. There are four types of
models for provisioning laundry in the hospital:-
A. Mechanized Laundry in the hospital: In house laundry service where the
hospital has its own laundry department. Mechanized laundry is the best service
method of linen supply for a large hospital because.
Loss and damage to linen is reduced
Regular and good quality linen supply is
ensured
Safe handling of soiled and infected linen
Complete control on washing formula for different types of linen thus
quality is ensured.
This system can enhance the inventory management and avoid loss of inventory.
B. Co-operating hospital Laundry: In this model hospital provides the infrastructure
and equipments for laundry and only manpower is outsourced.
C. Out-sourcing of linen supply: In this model the laundry services are
completely outsourced. Hospital maintains a central linen store for receiving of
linen from user departments and handing over the same to the outsourced
agency. Washed and clean linen is received by central linen store in-charge and
then issued to the user departments as per indent raised by them.
D. Dobi: Manual washing of clothes. Current practices need to be discouraged.
Washing of blood stained, infected and soiled linen get neglected because of manual
washing.

9. PROCESS FLOW OF MECHANIZED OR IN HOUSE LAUNDRY
The layout of the Laundry should be done in such a way that there is a unidirectional flow
of materials so that mixing up of the dirty linen and clean linen is avoided. It has following
areas:
Reception and Receiving Area
Machine Area (for Washing)
Drying Area (For Dryer)
Sorting Table for torn Clothes
Folding and Pressing Area
Tailoring Room
Clean Storage Area
Distribution Area
10. EQUIPMENTS
Washing Machine: used for washing purpose.
Hydro Extractor: also called extractors, work on the same principle as a
centrifuge for easy removal of water after the washing cycle in the
washer.
Tumble Drier: is used to remove moisture from a load of clothing.
Trouser Presser Machine: used for Dress ironing.
Flat Work Ironer: also called as calendaring machine is used for ironing
of items like sheets, pillowcases, tablecloths, aprons, etc.
Linen Trolley: used for transportation of linen.
Sewing Machine: is used for mending the torn linen.

11. CENTRAL LINEN ROOM
The hospital linen service operates through the central linen room under the linen
store I/C. Linen room facilities are designed to maintain all the linen supplies to
the hospital. This room should be adjacent to the clean end of the laundry
department.
The function of central linen room is to supply all the linen for the entire
hospital. This room should be sufficiently large to hold at least 48 hours of
linen supply for the hospital. Adequate shelf spaces should be provided.
Shelves, racks, linen folding tables and closets for storage of small articles are the
other items needed in the central linen room.
Location: Adjacent to the clean end of the department and with convenient
access to the lifts. If the laundry is located in the separate building the central
linen room should be adjacent to the entrance through which clean linen is
delivered to the hospital.
Sewing room: It is the integral part of the linen supply room and the entire linen
repair is carried out in the room and it should be under control of the linen
store I/C and separate register should be maintained to capture of the records of
the wear and tear.

Prepared by: Tanveer Latif (Laundry Supervisor
12. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
1. SOP for segregation of linen
Segregation of linen is done at source as per below mentioned categories:
There should be minimal handling of infected linen and if it is to be handled, PPE
Should be used by the handlers.
Colour coded bags for segregation
of linen at the user Departments
Linen must be handled and segregated as follows in different color coded bags
Bag Colour
Green Bag
Yellow Bag
Red Bag
Green
Tanveer Latif (Laundry Supervisor)
. STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
SOP for segregation of linen
Should be used by the handlers.
bags for segregation
of linen at the user Departments
Safe Handling of used linen
Colour Linen Type
For Non-Contamination
For Contamination Linen
For Infected linen
Yellow
Page 8
Contamination Linen
Contamination Linen
For Infected linen
Red

2. SOP for collection of linen and internal transportation of linen
Every morning, the Laundry attendants go to different areas and collect the
dirty linen bags in linen transport trolleys. There must be separate trolleys
for transporting clean and dirty linen. The trolley used for transporting dirty
linen should have two compartments for carrying dirty linen in one and soiled &
infected in the other.
Whenever the attendant collects the linen, the number of different types of
linen items received is entered in the record by the Sister I/C of the concerned
area. A separate register has to be maintained in different areas for the
same. Linen transport trolleys should be closed.
3. SOP for washing of linen
Soiled & Infected Linen: Sluicing is carried for removing heavy soil by
putting the linen in the sluicing machine. The linen is treated with hot water
and for stain removal & disinfect chemical (bleaching powder) are used
depending upon the type of stain.
• At 65 degree Celsius the wash cycle is for ten
minutes
• At 71 degree Celsius the wash cycle is for three
minutes
After rinsing the sluiced linen is wash as normal. If sluicing machine is not
available, then it can be done manually after using proper PPE.
Dirty Linen: Dirty linen (non infected linen) is to be washed in the first
batch before washing linen should be weighed and each batch should weigh
less than or equal to the established guidelines of the washing machine.
Water temperature should be checked on a daily basis, if not as per
requirement the same is to be reported to the Hospital administrator for
further action.

4. SOP for drying and extracting
Purpose is to remove the excess water from the washed linen
Ensure weight of the batch of linen is as per the guidelines provides for the
extractor.
The dryer enables to remove moisture from the linen, at set temperature.
Ensure that the dryer is working as per standards and the heat generated is
accurate
Each and every piece of linen should be checked for damages, and damaged
Pieces should be handed over to the linen supervisor.
5. SOP for mending of linen
• After washing and drying of the linen, linen with minor defects or which needs repair
is segregated.
• Linen with minor defects will be sent to the tailor for mending and repair.
• Laundry In charge will receive the linen with major defects (after wash) and
Will separately store it for future condemnation as per hospital
Policy & simultaneously he will stock out such linen from the stock.
6. SOP for ironing
Bed sheets, draw sheets, pillow covers, patient cloths, staff uniforms, table
cloths, hand towels etc. are to be ironed through the flat work iron.
7. SOP for distribution of linen
The clean linen items are stored in the central storage area before distribution.
The clean linen is issued to user departments in the linen transport trolleys on
the basis of indent raised by the nursing in-charges. This linen is stored in the sub
store room of the user department. Record of linen issued is maintained by the
central store and record of linen received is maintained by respective sister in-
charges.

13. LAUNDRY DEPARTMENT ACTIVITY FLOW.
The Laundry Department usually works in following manner.
Sorting of linen at Ward level
NonNonNonNon----Contamination linenContamination linenContamination linenContamination linen
(Green(Green(Green(Green bag)bag)bag)bag)
Contamination LinenContamination LinenContamination LinenContamination Linen
((((YellowYellowYellowYellow bag)bag)bag)bag)
Infected Linen (Red
Disinfect and Preliminary washes
Washing
Hydro extractor
Dryer
Damaged Linen
Mending
Yes
No
Ironing
Central Linen Stores
Issue to the ward
Wards sub stores

Standard Operating Procedure of Laundry Department

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