Care Home Laundry Regulations: UK Compliance & Infection Control Guide

Care home laundry is an important part of infection prevention and control. Linen, bedding, clothing and towels can move between resident rooms, bathrooms, laundry areas and clean storage every day, so poor handling can create opportunities for cross-contamination.

There is not one single piece of legislation called the “care home laundry regulations”. Instead, providers need to manage laundry in line with wider health and social care legislation, infection-prevention requirements, national guidance, COSHH duties and the manufacturer’s instructions for the equipment and products being used.

This guide explains the practical requirements care homes should understand, including clean and dirty separation, infectious laundry, room layout, wash processes, chemicals, equipment, records and staff training.

If you are unsure whether your existing laundry setup supports current guidance, Able can review the room, equipment, chemicals and workflow with you.

What Rules Apply to Laundry in Care Homes?

Care home laundry management sits within a wider infection-prevention and safety framework.

Important sources of guidance and legal duties include:

• The Health and Social Care Act 2008 infection prevention and control code of practice
• Government infection-prevention and control guidance for adult social care
• Care Quality Commission expectations around infection prevention and safe care
• COSHH requirements for hazardous substances such as laundry chemicals
• Health Technical Memorandum HTM 01-04 guidance on linen decontamination
• Manufacturer instructions for textiles, washing machines, chemicals and dosing systems

The practical aim is straightforward: laundry should be handled, processed and stored in a way that minimises infection risk and provides residents with clean linen and clothing that is suitable for use.

The Three Categories of Laundry

Government adult-social-care guidance separates laundry into three broad categories:

Clean Laundry

Clean laundry has completed the laundering process and is ready for use.

It should be protected from contamination and stored in a clean designated area, preferably within enclosed storage.

Used Laundry

Used laundry has been used but is not known to be contaminated with blood or other body fluids and has not been used by someone known or suspected to have an infection requiring infectious-laundry precautions.

Within a care home, used linen should be placed into the appropriate laundry receptacle as close as reasonably possible to where it is removed.

Infectious Laundry

Infectious laundry includes linen used by someone known or suspected to be infectious and linen contaminated with blood or other body fluids.

Government guidance advises that infectious laundry should be handled separately, placed into an appropriate water-soluble bag where required and then into an impermeable outer bag before transport.

Water-soluble bags should be compatible with the washing process and should normally be placed directly into the washing machine rather than opened by staff.

Keep Clean and Used Laundry Separate

One of the most important principles in care home laundry is preventing clean linen from becoming contaminated by used or infectious laundry.

Government guidance advises care homes to consider processes that create a dirty-to-clean flow through the laundry and allow clean and used laundry to remain physically separated.

How this is achieved will depend on the building and laundry room. It may involve:

• Clearly defined dirty and clean working areas
• Separate containers or trolleys for clean and used laundry
• Dedicated clean-linen storage
• Clear staff procedures and signage
• Work surfaces allocated to particular stages of the process
• A workflow that avoids taking processed linen back through dirty handling areas wherever practicable

A care home does not necessarily need two completely separate rooms or entrances. What matters is having effective arrangements that prevent cross-contamination within the space available.

For a more detailed look at this subject, see our guide to separating clean and dirty laundry in care homes.

How Should Used Laundry Be Handled?

Used linen should be handled as little as possible.

Government guidance advises care workers to avoid:

• Shaking laundry when removing it from beds
• Putting used linen on the floor or other surfaces
• Re-handling linen after it has been bagged
• Overfilling laundry receptacles
• Mixing inappropriate items into laundry bags

Staff may need an apron to protect their clothing when handling used or infectious laundry, depending on the task and risk assessment.

Hands should be cleaned between handling different categories of laundry, particularly when moving from used or infectious items to clean laundry.

How Should Infectious Laundry Be Washed?

Infectious laundry requires additional controls.

Current adult-social-care guidance advises that infectious laundry should:

• Not be washed by hand
• Be processed separately from other laundry
• Use an appropriate pre-wash or sluice cycle where required
• Be laundered at an appropriate temperature
• Be handled in a way that avoids staff opening contaminated bags unnecessarily

Where staff are responsible for laundering the clothing of someone with an infectious illness, government guidance advises washing at the highest temperature recommended by the textile manufacturer.

For delicate infectious items that cannot tolerate a high-temperature process, an appropriate laundry bleach or alternative laundry disinfectant may need to be considered.

This is why care homes should avoid relying on one fixed temperature figure for every textile and every situation. The required process depends on the fabric, contamination risk, wash chemistry and laundry system being used.

Thermal and Chemical Laundry Disinfection

Laundry decontamination can involve temperature, detergent, agitation, rinsing and appropriate laundry chemistry working together.

HTM 01-04 provides more detailed technical guidance around linen decontamination within health and social-care environments, including recognised thermal and chemical disinfection processes.

Where a care home uses a defined thermal-disinfection programme, the washing machine needs to be capable of delivering the programmed process consistently.

Where lower-temperature or chemical-disinfection systems are used, the process and products need to be suitable for the required hygiene outcome and operated according to the relevant instructions.

The important point is not simply the maximum temperature printed on a washing machine specification. The entire wash process needs to be suitable for the laundry being processed.

Does a Care Home Need Commercial Washing Machines?

Government guidance does not simply state that every domestic washing machine is automatically illegal in a care home.

However, care-home laundry presents demands that typical household equipment may struggle to meet, including:

• High daily throughput
• Repeated operation throughout the day
• Defined hygiene or disinfection programmes
• Large volumes of bedding and towels
• Heavily soiled and infectious loads
• Accurate chemical dosing
• The need for reliability and service support

For this reason, purpose-designed commercial laundry equipment will usually provide a more appropriate solution for a busy care-home laundry.

Equipment should be selected according to the home’s capacity, resident profile, laundry volumes, available utilities, space and required wash processes rather than simply choosing the largest machine available.

Care Home Laundry Room Layout

A good laundry-room layout should support the process rather than make staff work against it.

Where practicable, the workflow should move from:

Used or infectious laundry → washing → drying → finishing/folding → clean storage

Useful design considerations include:

• Enough space to separate dirty and clean activities
• Suitable work surfaces that can be cleaned effectively
• Accessible hand-washing facilities where possible
• Clearly designated clean-linen storage
• Appropriate ventilation and heating
• Enough room around machines for safe loading, unloading and servicing
• Storage for laundry chemicals and PPE
• Routes that minimise unnecessary crossover between clean and dirty processes

If you are planning a refurbishment or new installation, our care home laundry equipment installation checklist covers many of the practical points worth considering before equipment arrives.

Clean Linen Storage

The laundering process is not complete when an item leaves the dryer.

Clean linen can become contaminated again if it is stored incorrectly.

Government guidance recommends storing clean linen:

• Separately from used and infectious laundry
• In a clean designated area
• Above floor level
• In a clean, cool and dry environment
• Preferably within enclosed storage

Stock rotation can also help ensure older clean linen is used before newly processed items.

Cleaning the Laundry Room

The laundry room itself needs a cleaning schedule.

Government guidance specifically recommends cleaning arrangements for areas used to process linen, including:

• The laundry room
• Clean-linen storage
• Used-linen storage
• Work surfaces
• Equipment and frequently touched areas

Cleaning should help prevent the room itself becoming a source of contamination.

This is particularly important around sorting areas, machine doors and controls, trolley handles, worktops and floors.

Laundry Chemicals and COSHH

Laundry detergents, destainers, emulsifiers and other chemicals may fall within COSHH requirements where they present a hazard to health.

The care home should therefore have suitable arrangements for:

• Assessing chemical hazards
• Safe chemical storage
• Staff information and training
• Appropriate PPE where identified by the risk assessment
• Access to product labels and Safety Data Sheets
• Managing spills and accidental exposure
• Using products in accordance with their instructions

See our guide to COSHH risk assessments in care homes for more on chemical risk management.

Is Auto-Dosing Required in a Care Home Laundry?

Auto-dosing can be very useful in a care-home laundry, but it should not be described as a universal legal requirement.

An automatic laundry dosing system delivers a programmed amount of chemical directly into the washer, which can help:

• Reduce manual handling of concentrated chemicals
• Improve consistency between wash cycles
• Reduce over- and under-dosing
• Simplify the process for staff
• Make chemical consumption easier to control

For busy laundries, those benefits can make the system easier and safer to operate.

Able supplies professional laundry chemicals and auto-dosing systems and can review the products, programmes and dosing arrangement being used within an existing laundry.

Staff Training and Laundry Procedures

Even a well-designed laundry room will not work safely if staff do not understand the process.

Relevant staff should know:

• How clean, used and infectious laundry are classified
• Which bags and containers should be used
• How infectious linen should be handled
• When PPE is needed
• When hand hygiene is required
• Which wash programmes should be selected
• How laundry chemicals are used safely
• How clean laundry should be stored
• What to do when equipment or processes are not working correctly

The home’s laundry policy should reflect the actual equipment and procedures being used rather than being a generic document that bears little resemblance to day-to-day practice.

For more on the operational side, see our care home laundry procedures guide.

Preventing Cross-Contamination in the Laundry

Cross-contamination can occur at several points in the laundry process.

Typical risks include:

• Clean and dirty trolleys being mixed
• Used linen being placed on worktops or floors
• Staff handling clean laundry without cleaning their hands after dirty-laundry tasks
• Clean items being carried back through a dirty processing area
• Work surfaces not being cleaned between tasks
• Infectious laundry being opened or sorted unnecessarily
• Clean linen being stored within the used-laundry area

Our guide to preventing cross-contamination in care home laundry explores these risks in more detail.

What Does CQC Look for Around Laundry?

CQC’s infection-prevention material for care homes includes laundry as part of the wider assessment of how people are protected from infection.

Its current published guidance looks for arrangements such as:

• A designated area for managing and storing laundry
• Laundry processes that follow national guidance
• Correct management of clean, used and infectious laundry
• Processes that minimise infection risk

The strongest evidence is therefore not a particular brand of machine or a single room-design feature. It is being able to demonstrate that the home’s laundry process is understood, appropriate for the setting and consistently followed.

Common Care Home Laundry Compliance Problems

Problems often arise where the written policy looks good but the physical setup or daily routine does not support it.

Examples include:

• Clean and used laundry being stored together
• Used linen being placed on floors or worktops
• No clear process for infectious laundry
• Machines being overloaded or unsuitable for the required workload
• Staff changing programmes without understanding the effect on the wash process
• Inconsistent or unsafe chemical dosing
• Poorly organised storage
• Clean laundry being returned through dirty working areas
• Staff not understanding the home’s laundry procedure
• Maintenance problems affecting machine performance

A compliance review should therefore look at workflow, behaviour, equipment and products together rather than checking individual items in isolation.

Care Home Laundry Compliance Checklist

When reviewing your own laundry, consider whether you can answer yes to the following:

• Are clean, used and infectious laundry clearly distinguished?
• Are suitable bags and containers available?
• Can staff explain how infectious laundry should be handled?
• Are clean and dirty activities adequately separated?
• Is clean linen stored in a protected designated area?
• Is the laundry room included within a cleaning schedule?
• Are wash programmes appropriate for the linen being processed?
• Are laundry chemicals stored and used safely?
• Do staff understand the selected washing and dosing processes?
• Is the equipment suitable for the amount of laundry being processed?
• Are servicing and breakdown arrangements in place?
• Are staff trained when procedures or equipment change?

If several of those questions are difficult to answer, it is worth reviewing the laundry as a complete system rather than trying to fix one problem at a time.

Planning or Upgrading a Care Home Laundry

An equipment replacement is a useful opportunity to look at the wider laundry operation.

Before specifying new machinery, consider:

• Resident numbers and expected daily laundry volumes
• The type of linen being processed
• Available room dimensions
• Dirty-to-clean workflow
• Water, drainage, electrical and gas requirements
• Ventilation and tumble-dryer ducting
• Washer and dryer capacity balance
• Chemical storage and dosing
• Accessibility for future servicing and repairs
• Clean-linen finishing and storage space

Getting those decisions right before installation can avoid expensive changes later.

Care Home Laundry Support from Able

Able supports care homes with the complete laundry setup, from commercial washing machines, tumble dryers and other laundry equipment through to installation, servicing, breakdown support, laundry chemicals and auto-dosing.

We can also review an existing laundry before recommending changes.

A free Laundry Site Survey allows us to look at the room, workflow, current equipment, utilities, capacity and chemical setup so recommendations are based on the way your laundry actually operates.

If you are planning a new laundry, replacing machines or simply want to know whether the current setup could be improved, speak to our team.

Care Home Laundry Regulations FAQs