Solving Critical Issues of a London Hospital
The Royal Free Hospital is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden and is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. It also has one of the busiest A&E departments in London and keeping the hospital clean 24/7 is the responsibility of the Domestic Services Department team.
Requirement
Like many hospitals, the Royal free rely on a micro fibre mop system to keep the hospital clean and as germ free as possible and needed a laundry solution that delivered critical equipment that met with current healthcare legislation as well as high priority response service.
There were a number of key challenges that needed to be overcome including doubling their laundry capacity with limited access and space and to ensure that they had a laundry solution that pro longed the life expectancy of their micro fibre mop system.
Solution
The OPL Group has extensive expertise when it comes to laundry consultancy and the first thing that we did was crunch some numbers and work out the exact throughput of microfibre mops and cloths and then understand the manufacturer wash requirements. We then calculated the capacity of equipment required to get the job done and matched this with market leading equipment that would meet the room restrictions.
The OPL Group recommended 2no Electrolux 28kg washing machines matched with our 03 Guardian Ozone infection control system along with our unrivalled priority RenSmart rental solution. Our hybrid validation system would allow the management team to receive regular reports of wash validation and produce an audit trail to meet current HTM01-04 regulations. A date was agreed, and our installation team set about installing the new laundry set up.
Installation
As we were swapping out equipment from a previous supplier, OPL worked with the trust to minimise disruption to the service by carrying out all the work in 24 hours. We choreographed with the previous supplier to remove their equipment and then set about getting our equipment in and setting up the new system which included bespoke wash programs, commissioning, and staff training!
Results
With our RentSmart service plan, service back up was only a matter of hours away from any teething issues and our Account Manager was made available for setting up staff training for different shifts so that everyone knew how to use the equipment. With robust, reliable and efficient premium equipment, the staff finally had a laundry solution that exceeded their needs and met expectations and know that any reported breakdowns would be dealt with professionally and quickly.
