How laundry technology is helping streamline operations in care homes

JLA’s chief technology officer Robert Ackland discusses how digital laundry solutions are helping care providers improve efficiencies in laundry rooms

First, what do we mean by ‘digital laundry solutions’?

A suite of cloud-based/online systems that allow you to get valuable insights into how laundry equipment is performing from day to day.

This could mean saving energy, reducing environmental impact, or making sure that laundry rooms are operating in line with CQC compliance standards.

Are these systems already in use?

Yes, and have been especially useful for care providers that want to optimise their laundry processes.

At JLA, we’re also using this technology to monitor our customers’ equipment remotely, so essentially monitoring on their behalf, meaning we can identify potential issues before they cause issues or disruption. It also helps us to ensure our customers are getting the very best returns from JLA equipment. We offer these connected laundry features through Total Care, which is our all-inclusive equipment and support package. Compatible Total Care equipment includes remote monitoring as standard, while all Total Care customers can manage their JLA account 24/7 through our free MyJLA portal – another technology available to care homes working with JLA. This portal allows you to see all equipment in one place, view equipment insights and access all key documents in one place – and even purchase detergents direct.

Why is improving laundry processes important right now?

With a core focus on person-centred care and a high compliance burden to manage, most homes are happy if their laundry equipment just works. But left unchecked, a poorly operated laundry can significantly increase energy costs, damage the environment, and, in the worst cases, become a vector for infection.

This is why it’s so important to take a closer look at your laundry room’s performance. And how, with digital laundry solutions, it’s now simpler than ever to understand how well your equipment is doing – often at a glance.

At JLA, we’ve made it possible to monitor the cycles you run, view energy and water consumption, and even see live estimates of your carbon emissions. Plus, if you operate multiple locations, you can see everything in one place through the MyJLA portal, and even give your local managers the ability to see, monitor and improve performance at their own sites.

Alongside this, our laundry experts will continually check for potential issues. If we spot a problem, we’ll have an engineer with you within Total Care’s industryleading SLA.

Can you tell us more about how these digital solutions feed into sustainability and energy usage?

While the industry’s move to greener equipment gathers pace, digital laundry solutions such as JLA’s are making the transition as simple as possible. Another benefit of our digital solutions is that we can check in on the cycles running in your laundry to make sure everything matches your expected usage profile.

After all, too many hot washes could be costing you in wasted energy and unnecessarily increasing your carbon footprint, while too few hot washes or large numbers of incomplete hot washes could be putting your residents at risk of infection. Armed with insights like these, we can help you tune your laundry room to the exact needs of your business, and make sure your equipment remains wellsuited.

Plus, when you need to quickly demonstrate infection compliance or environmental compliance, it’s infinitely easier because all your records are safely stored online on MyJLA.

What’s next for digital innovation in care home laundries?

The last year has marked only the start of digital laundry solutions, and thanks to a growing focus on energy and moneysaving, innovation is moving quickly in this sector.

Here at JLA, we’re planning not only to make compliance more visible to our customers, but also to offer organisations more tools to demonstrate their excellence in infection control compliance. We’re also developing ways to offer real-time suggestions designed to help you make the best of your equipment.

We’ll also continue to develop our digital laundry solutions so that they remain easy access and intuitive to use, so that none of our customers will need specialist knowledge, training or equipment to take advantage. We’re dedicated to removing hassle and obstacles so that there’s nothing to stop you taking the performance of your laundry to the next level.

To learn more about JLA Connect and MyJLA with Total Care, call 0808 239 0647.