Welcome to London Hospital Linen Service, southwestern Ontario’s premiere laundry facility for the healthcare industry. From our plant in London, Ontario, we are proud to serve over 60 customers and ship over 12 million kilograms of linen each year.
Our facility works at optimum efficiency, placing special emphasis on the safety of our employees, and on the preservation of the environment. Join us as we take you through our "cycle of care."
Customer Ordering Plan
We work with our customers to develop a comprehensive ordering plan that’s right for them.
The ordering or quota system is maintained in an electronic database called Quala. Using our Quala software package, often assisted by hand held computers, our customers can make daily adjustments to their requirements via phone, fax, or internet. Quala also allows our customers to have access to real-time online reports and to account-specific data in a secure environment. All customers, regardless of size, have access to this technology.
Receiving
When soiled linen arrives, each cart is weighed and scanned by a bar code reader as part of our soiled return and cart tracking system.
Sorting
The linen is taken to the wash floor where it is dropped into the washers—commonly referred to as "tunnels".
We have three tunnel washers. Each washes 1000 kgs of linen at a time. We can have up to 10 different categories of linen in a tunnel at any one time.
Only environmentally sensitive chemicals are used, such as Peracitic acid, rather than chlorine bleach. The chemical balance in our tunnels is monitored regularly to ensure appropriate activity and ending with the appropriate pH level. No phosphates or fluorides are used.
Our washers have a heat reclamation system that removes heat from used water and brings it back through the system.
Drying
The linen is transferred into a press that extracts the water out and forms a 50 kg “cake.” Cakes are automatically loaded, two at a time from the same linen category, onto a shuttle attached to the dryer lines.
We have 17 dryers that can heat up to 220 degrees F. New heat exchangers capture exhaust heat from them to reuse elsewhere, such as to heat wash water and keep the plant warm.
The shuttle takes the cakes to the dryer. Since the system is automated, the dryer knows exactly what type of linen it is receiving, and sets its own drying time.
Once the linen is dry, it is delivered by sling to the appropriate finishing area.
Finishing
There are two types of finishing processes for general linen – dry fold, and ironed.
Dry fold items such as patient gowns, baby blankets, pajama bottoms, bathrobes and knitted fitted sheets are visually inspected as automated machines fold them.
Pieces that require a smooth finish are run through large piece flat work ironer lines. We have four such lines. Our two newest lines use less energy and offers improved ergonomics for feeding.
Linen moves through automatic folders and stackers. A new conveyor system reduces staff footwork and increases productivity.
Both dry fold and ironed items are loaded onto a flow rack to be taken to the cart make up area.
Press Department
The press department is our laundry within the laundry. Here, we wash and fold hospital-owned items, such as lab coats and cubicle curtains, as well as personal laundry from long-term care communities, mental healthcare facilities and children’s hospitals.
Each piece must be clearly marked with the facility and the department name.
The laundry is hand-sorted and washed in several smaller washer/extractors, which can hold from 25 to 200 kgs of laundry.
Then they are dried, hand-folded, tracked and taken to shipping, where they will be sent to the linen rooms or housekeeping areas of our customers’ facilities.
Sewing
Linen is a wonderful reusable product, but occasionally it requires some extra attention.
To lengthen the lifespan of linens, the staff in our sewing department repair damaged items. When a piece is no longer acceptable for its original use, it is turned into rags and given a second life.
Gore ® gowns that are no longer effective are downgraded and offered for use in “dry procedures” only to our customers.
We also donate items that do not meet our customers’ standards to charitable organizations serving communities in third world countries for healthcare needs.
Cart Make Up
Before being repacked with clean linen, each cart is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized through our cart wash, which also transfers carts from soil sort to the cart make up department.
Our cart make up team is given the correct order information and assembles the carts based on each customers daily order requirements of a specific ward or department in a hospital or health care facility.
Staff count and place all the required items on each cart, complete a visual inspection and sign off on the order.
OR Sterile Pack Prep
London Hospital Linen Service was the first central laundry in Canada to provide O-R sterile pack preparation for its customers. Operating since 1994, our Canadian Sterile Repack or C-S-R program is considered to be the benchmark in Canada.
All technicians working in the restricted, post sterile room have their Central Sterilization Association of Ontario designation.
O-R items must be in perfect condition, without holes, stains or imperfections. All O-R linen is rigorously inspected over light tables and felt for hard stains, such as paint and casting material, to ensure its quality.
The Quala electronic information system tracks the life cycle of O-R items including Gore ® gowns. Once a product reaches its life span, it is either disposed of or downgraded for alternate use.
All linen is hand-folded to meet the rigorous standards of the sterile field in the O-R.
After inspection and folding, the O-R linen moves into the pack make-up area.
Each pack order card is scanned and each bar coded item going into the pack is scanned. The card is secured to the top of the pack by a special band. A small piece of autoclave tape is attached to the card. It will turn colour when the pack is properly sterilized.
Shipping
Each cart shipped goes to an assigned location within the customer’s site.
Our fleet of trucks operates 20 hours each day to pick up and deliver our customers’ linen.
Before being shipped, each cart is scanned for tracking purposes, weighed for billing purposes and then covered with a clean, plastic cover. Once the orders are processed, they are “parked” and ready for shipment.
Closing
We are constantly working to ensure that our plant runs smoothly and efficiently so we can provide the highest quality, and the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly service possible.
This completes our “cycle of care” virtual tour. If you have any questions, please contact us and a London Hospital Linen Service representative will be pleased to speak with you.
