4 ways commercial laundry solutions prevent linen stock issues in hospitals
Linen stock issues are a constant challenge that government bodies and hospital staff aim to avoid. That said, linen shortages are not uncommon among healthcare facilities in Australia, especially in recent years.
A lack of pillows, sheets, and blankets hit South Australian hospitals hard in 2023. In Adelaide, a 93-year-old man was denied an adequate linen item while waiting to be treated at the emergency department at a local hospital due to a shortage of such items.
In the following month, at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital, a four-year-old boy was given folded-up towels instead of a pillow with a linen sheet, despite the state government conducting an audit on hospital supplies.
Linen stock issues, such as linen shortages or overstocking, stem from several challenges. These include manual linen counting and processing which can be time-consuming and prone to human error. Lost or misplaced items can also force hospital staff to guess how much they should restock instead of relying on past findings and reliable data. Unexpected surges in demand can quickly deplete limited supplies, causing disruptions in patient care.
Hospital managers should turn to cloud-based commercial laundry solutions to foolproof their linen stock. This solution is designed to help them overcome common linen stock challenges and ensure a steady supply of clean linens in healthcare.
Let’s explore how this comprehensive software can transform how linen items are managed in Australian hospitals.
- Reduced linen loss
Lost linens are a significant financial drain for hospitals, impacting budgets and requiring costly replacements. Commercial laundry solutions empower proactive loss prevention, safeguarding your resources and ensuring linens are readily available for patient care.
Each linen item receives a unique radio frequency identification (RFID) tag — a tiny chip that transmits data to the cloud-based software. This tag acts as a digital fingerprint, allowing real-time tracking of linen throughout the entire laundering process, from collection to delivery and back again.
This significantly reduces the chances of linen getting displaced. Staff can quickly locate missing items using the software, eliminating wasted searching time and ensuring linen items are readily available when needed.
In the unfortunate event of a disconnected RFID tag, the software alerts staff of a missing item. This allows for immediate corrective action, such as retracing the linen’s last known location or initiating a search.
By minimising linen loss, hospitals can achieve substantial financial savings, allowing them to redirect resources toward other crucial areas of patient care and hospital operations. Additionally, ensuring a consistent supply of clean linen fosters a more positive patient experience, contributing to a clean and hygienic hospital environment.
2. Automated inventory management
Manual linen counting can often lead to human errors and are time-consuming. Commercial laundry software seamlessly integrates with washers and dryers, automatically tracking each linen item throughout its lifecycle — from collecting soiled linen to distributing to patient rooms.
Every sheet, towel, and gown receives a unique identifier, providing complete transparency into the linen’s journey. This translates to real-time, accurate inventory data at your fingertips. No more scrambling to reconcile spreadsheets or wondering where specific linens might be.
With a few clicks, you have a clear picture of the available linens, those currently in the laundry process, and those in use within patient rooms. This empowers informed decision-making on linen restocking and allocation, ensuring a steady supply and eliminating guesswork.
By automating tedious tasks, the software frees up valuable staff time previously spent on manual counts. This allows them to focus on more critical tasks like patient care and maintaining a clean hospital environment, ultimately fostering a more efficient and patient-centred healthcare experience.
3. RFID-powered tracking capabilities
Imagine having the ability to instantly locate any missing sheet or towel within the vast confines of a hospital. This becomes a reality with RFID tags and cloud-based software, revolutionising linen management and saving valuable time.
Each linen item receives an RFID tag, which continuously transmits its location data to the software. This allows staff to track any piece of linen, whether it’s a gown in the emergency room or a blanket on a surgical ward.
This eliminates time-consuming searches and the frustration of missing linen. Real-time location tracking also fosters greater accountability, as staff can easily identify the location of specific linen items assigned to their departments. Supervisors can ensure proper linen allocation and usage, preventing unauthorised use or hoarding of essential linen.
Easy access to real-time linen location facilitates efficient inventory management and distribution. The software can even be integrated with mobile applications for convenient access. Imagine a nurse on a busy floor quickly locating a clean gown via their smartphone app, saving valuable time that could have been better spent providing patient care.
4. Data-driven linen allocation
Forget guesswork and reactive approaches to linen management. Commercial laundry solutions leverage historical data to predict future needs, ensuring optimal linen distribution across departments and preventing inconvenient shortages.
The software analyses historical data on linen usage across various departments and throughout the week. These areas involve variables such as the number of patients, bed turnover, and the types of procedures done. With the help of linen usage analysis, the software can forecast when particular types of linen, such as surgical drapes or isolation gowns, will be in high demand.
It also means restocking can be done in advance to prevent a stock shortage of linens during busy periods. With accurate data on usage patterns, hospital staff can distribute linen more efficiently in line with a specific department’s needs. This helps to eliminate overstocking in particular sections, which occupies unnecessary space that could otherwise have been used by other departments.
Additionally, it eliminates the risk of shortages in other departments, ensuring a consistent supply of clean linen and uninterrupted patient care. By strategically optimising linen distribution based on data-driven insights, hospitals can achieve significant cost savings and create a more efficient and patient-centred healthcare environment.
Overcome linen stock issues with commercial laundry solutions
Australian hospitals shouldn’t have to worry about linen shortages impacting patient care. Imagine elderly patients denied a linen sheet or children receiving towels instead of blankets! This is a harsh reality due to inefficient linen management.
This is where commercial laundry solutions step in, offering a revolutionary approach. By automating processes, tracking linen with RFID tags, and predicting future needs, hospitals can achieve reduced linen loss, automated inventory management, effortless linen location, and data-driven allocation.
By implementing this software to strengthen their industrial linen services, hospitals can ensure a steady supply of clean linens, create a more efficient environment, and ultimately provide the best possible care for their patients.
