Across the UK, care managers are having to balance tough sums without compromising high standards of care – or residents’ comfort. In more-specialised environments like dementia care facilities, where residents are often more vulnerable, this makes the reliability and performance of critical equipment even more important.
As a core pillar of your care home’s infection control strategy, and a place where robust equipment is a non-negotiable, the laundry room is a smart place to start finding those savings. The question, then, is how to wash items safely, with consistent results, while keeping running costs down. Thankfully, advances in technology have made both possible.
In recent years, Vida Healthcare, a specialist dementia care provider with purpose-built homes in Pannal, Starbeck and Harlow Carr, faced exactly this challenge as its team planned an efficient laundry room at Vida Court, its newest home.
The Vida Healthcare team understood that laundry would be significant overhead, but also needed to guarantee disinfection on every cycle, manage constant throughput, and keep downtime to an absolute minimum. They also had to factor energy costs.
In more-specialised environments like dementia care facilities, where residents are often more vulnerable, this makes the reliability and performance of critical equipment even more important
Rather than choosing traditional high-temperature thermal disinfection, Vida Court looked to JLA’s OTEX ozone disinfection system as an alternative. This is a system that uses the natural disinfecting power of ozone to kill 99.99% of harmful bacteria and viruses on a cool wash, reducing hot water, electricity and detergent use to realise savings of up to 60% versus thermal processing.
The impact at Vida Court has been measurable. In one 30-day period, for example, the home recorded a £900 reduction in energy costs through OTEX, demonstrating the value of the team’s choice while providing reassurance about longer-term results. The team also shared how the home’s use of ozone technology was proving effective in eradicating infections from their buildings.
Alongside its energy-efficient equipment, Vida Court has also invested in myJLA and JLA Connect to improve how it controls and manages its equipment.
MyJLA now gives the team fast, 24/7 access to a dashboard where everything from estimated emissions to energy costs can be monitored and acted upon. Connect, meanwhile, adds remote sensors to the home’s compatible laundry appliances, sending live data directly to JLA engineers who can flag and manage potential issues before they can turn into breakdowns.
Connect also provides real-time insights into usage patterns, allowing care managers to identify more efficient times to run equipment, and even track ongoing savings generated through systems like OTEX ozone disinfection.
By using myJLA and Connect, the Vida Court team has everything it needs to reduce admin hassle and manage its assets, all from one place. For any provider – especially those managing multiple homes – this powerful oversight supports better, faster decision-making, as well as identifying extra savings.
We know that technology isn’t enough on its own, of course. In complex care settings, downtime can have real consequences – in terms of residents’ comfort and protection, as well as resourcing challenges. This is why Vida Court invested in Total Care for its equipment, ensuring that inclusive servicing, repairs and 24/7 assistance are all covered by a single, predictable monthly fee.
This package has removed the uncertainty of unexpected costs, and ensures that the home can receive rapid assistance if an issue arises. Thanks to the reach of JLA’s national engineer network, potential disruption is minimised despite machines running almost constantly – giving the team the confidence that, even in the event of a problem, things will be taken care of.
For any provider – especially those managing multiple homes – this powerful oversight supports better, faster decision-making, as well as identifying extra savings
This kind of support can make a huge difference for operators trying to balance the challenge of day-to-day operations with wider cost reduction and compliance programmes, and shows just how important forward planning can be.
What Vida Court’s experience highlights is a wider shift that’s happening right across the care sector. This is that energy management, infection control and equipment reliability can’t be treated as separate concerns, but instead as interconnected parts of your strategy.
At JLA, we work in partnership with complex care operators to deliver a true end-to-end approach across all aspects of commercial laundry, catering, HVAC, fire safety and infection control systems – helping providers maintain care quality alongside long-term viability.
To discuss how our tailored, fully supported model could help strengthen your operations, please don’t hesitate to find us at the CT Owners Club Complex Care Forum at Celtic Manor or get in touch.