As hospital administrators, we all want to save what money we can when we can. After all, running a medical facility is expensive. One place where many administrators think they can cut corners to save some funds is their linen supply. In-house linen supplies and cleaning may seem like more of a one-time expense than hiring a linen service; however, there are hidden costs to maintaining your own linen supply that you may not have considered. Here are a few of the advantages of using a linen service over maintaining in-house linens.
Initial Cost
The initial investment necessary for having your own in-house laundry services is staggering. You have to purchase all of the linens you need, certainly, but in addition to that cost, you have to get the equipment and chemicals to sterilize used items, the storage and transportation vehicles to keep and distribute clean items to each room, and you have to hire the appropriate staff to sterilize and distribute the bedding and other items.
With a linen service, you don't even have a fraction of these initial costs to worry about. They already have the processing facilities, the staff, and the inventory, so you just have to pay for the service itself instead of front a huge initial cost.
The Space
Once you've found the necessary funds to create your initial inventory, you have to figure out exactly where you're going to put everything. It's not as simple as just finding a place to store things: you have to be sure that your washing and sanitizing equipment has the proper hook-ups and ventilation. This may require quite a bit of space, and some construction, wiring, plumbing, or ventilation installation may be necessary to create the proper facilities. This is a cost addition that no one wants to face.
When you use a linen service, you don't have to create your own processing facility, which can save you a lot of time and hassle, as well as construction and adaptation costs.
Inventory
Once you've fronted the initial setup and supply costs, there is one major cost to consider: maintaining your linen inventory. With the heavy use and abuse that hospital linens undergo, it can be difficult to maintain a solid inventory. Things can become worn quickly, get ripped or torn easily, suddenly go missing, or mysteriously gain holes. When these things happen with your inventory, it must be replaced. Constant inspection is also necessary to ensure that your inventory stays utilizable, which may force you to hire additional laundry staff.
A linen service has the ability to both inspect and replace their inventory without any additional cost to you. They will maintain your hospital's inventory and account for any damages that occur. The onus is off your hospital when linen management is left to a professional linen service.