Linen
Last updated: 28 October 2021 at 10:20
Bag linen inside patient isolation room in accordance with procedures for infectious linen. Unbagged linens should not be carried through the ward or other clinical areas.
Helpful numbers and contact personnel
Linen Room
Tel: ext. 12692
Logistics
Tel: ext. 13390/13391 (Monday to Sunday, 24/7)
Facilities Contracted Services
Tel: ext. 52654 (Monday – Friday, 09:00 – 17:00)
Out of hours emergency linen procedure
In the event of an emergency the following procedure should be followed by Wards and Departments requesting linen out of hours.
Step 1
If the required linen is not available between 16:30 hours and 08:00 hours Monday - Friday, inclusive of weekends and Bank Holidays, you are required to check with neighbouring Wards and Departments for the availability of the items required.
Step 2
If the required linen is still not available wards/departments must contact a member of the on site Logistics team on Extension 13390 or 13391 (Facilities Help Desk between the hours of 20:00 – 05:00, Monday to Sunday inclusive). The requester should provide details of required linen items for Logistics/Facilities Portering who will pick and pack for delivery to the requesting ward or department.
Please note: users should be aware that linen held on site outside of normal working hours is for emergency use only, it is not an additional top up until the next scheduled delivery, requests should be limited to emergency requirements only until the next day delivery.
Step 3
If the emergency on site stock held within Logistics is exhausted the requesting ward/department will be notified, they will then be required to contact the Hospital Site Manager (Nursing) via Hospital switchboard. When contacted outside of normal working hours the Site Manager will confirm if steps 1 and 2 of this procedure have been exhausted before contacting Berendsen’s out of hours emergency response team via Hospital switchboard.
When contacting Berendsen’s out of hours response team the Hospital Site Manager needs to confirm the following details, Hospital site, ward/department name of requester, contact telephone number and linen items/quantities.
Contract monitoring
- Monthly Quality Assurance inspections undertaken by Contracted Services and Berendsen
- Monthly service review meetings
- Quarterly contract review meetings
Collection procedure for all ‘return to sender’ items
Prior to usage and laundering all “return to sender” items must have a sewn in label that details in permanent ink, ward/department and Hospital name.
Failure to comply with this request may result in loss of items to your ward or department.
- Place soiled items into purple plastic Berendsen bag, purple bags are located in ward/department linen room or on request from Logistics. Infected heavily soiled items should be placed into a red infected pack bag prior to placing into a purple bag
- Contact Logistics to arrange collection, of purple bags, each collection is documented for collection/return
- Laundered RTS items will be returned directly to individual wards/department by Logistics staff
Rejected linen procedure
If you receive an unacceptable item of linen do not place into a soiled linen bag. Place said items into pink plastic Berendsen bags.
Pink bags are located in Ward/Department Linen Room or on request from Logistics. Place the pink plastic bags into your linen room for collection by Logistics personnel.
These items will be replaced by Berendsen free of charge to the Trust.
Linen levels
Linen is provided to individual wards and departments on a pre set top up service, this includes bags for soiled linen. All queries relating to your individual ward/department should be made in the first instance to a member of the on site Logistics team.
Health and safety
All general linen is laundered using the product Prodet 2000 which is alkaline based. COSHH data information is available on request.
Complaints and service issues
All complaints or service issues should be brought to the attention of Logistics management, alternatively contact the Facilities Contracted Services.
Colour coded bag procedure for soiled linen
Fill bags about two-thirds full and secure at the top by tying a knot.
White bag
Green bag
White bag and dissolvable bag
Pink bag
Purple bag
Surgical gowns and scrubs
Staff are reminded that linen surgical gowns are reusuable and are not disposable.
Once they have been used, they need to be sent back intact and undamaged.
The correct procedure is that:
- Gowns go into a red alginate bag and then into a green linen bag
- Scrubs go into a red alginate bag (if contaminated) and into a white linen bag
- Both bags are then disposed of into a cage for porter collection and not a yellow waste bin
There have been issues with gowns going into waste bins, incorrect linen bags and ending up in the wrong place.
Failure to follow the correct procedure (see the "Downloads" section for more information) could result in supply problems.
