Care home destroyed clothes

[Annoyeddd]

DM is in a lovely care home with good care staff however the housekeeping staff have destroyed some of her clothes by washing then on very hot wash so I have been asked to replace them.
AIBU in thinking you destroyed them you replace them (the home fees do not come cheap).

Is there a reason they’re being washed at a high temperature?

They probably don’t have time to wash individual items on a cool wash. Also high temperatures are necessary to kill bacteria, were the clothes soiled?

I sometimes work in the laundry in a care home. I’ll never understand why families insist on sending delicate items in for their loved one. But I suppose they aren’t taking the laundry into consideration.

Is it really a very hot wash, or is it 40? Some clothes should be hand washed or cool washed. It's not fair to expect the care home to accommodate 'delicates'.

FiL sent in cashmere cardigans for MiL, even when we told him not to. Obviously, they shrank and were unwearable.

I agree with you
It's part of the service they are charging you for

I don’t think it’s the job of a care home to be separating wool and silk, if that’s the source of the issue here?
I do think for dignity and care it is good if residents can choose the exact clothes they want, but realistically special laundry needs seems too onerous to me.
What is reason behind the damage?
Is it regular fabrics not standing up to a full on boil wash in with sheets, or delicate fabrics that aren’t great on a more normal cycle?

Is it for infection control or something? I presume they aren't individually reading labels so clothes need to be quite robust as everything will be washed together. Could you provide essentials that will stand up to the hot washing and keep a few nicer pieces like cardigans etc that don't need to be washed as often? And ask that they aren't washed unless actually dirty?

sadly it happens it goes all in together and it ruined my grannies. Learnt to buy cheaper clothes and we kept and did the washing of delicates

Regular fabrics on the boil wash. She has been there are year or two and not happened before

The sheer volume of daily laundry in a care home is massive. (Easily four washing machines and tumble dryers going almost 24/7 with dedicated laundry people as well as other staff helping - and that’s in a smaller home) Yabu to expect delicate clothing to be separated into m individual wash or washed by hand etc. we always advised residents families that delicate items could be separated from the communal laundry and taken home
by relatives to wash themselves.
Everything in a care home is washed, dried and ironed on the highest heat possible for infection control. It’s not just food waste that clothing etc is contaminated by.

They will be doing so much washing, many residents will be going through 3 or 4 different changes over a 24 hour period as well as bedding being washed (many will need at least one full bed change too, those nurses in bed may need more). It needs to be a hot wash due to infection control.

She needs clothes that wash well but also are not too expensive so can be replaced.

They will wash everything at high temperatures to kill bacteria, bacteria lives on everything including cloth to kill it off they will no doubt wash at 90.

I've worked in a nursing home laundry. It may be that the clothes were soiled with bodily fluids. They would have been put in special plastic bags by the care staff. These go directly in the machine for a very hot wash without the laundry staff seeing what the clothes are, for infection control purposes. It's a shame that clothes have been ruined but as PP said laundry in that environment is relentless.

There used to be rules on washing temperature for control of infection reasons - diarrhoeal illnesses mostly. It's often not the washing that damages the clothes but the tumble drying.

I think you're being unrealistic about clothes being washed in a care home not being shrunk / damaged due to the communal washing service they provide. The choice is to provide clothing which can withstand the process they use, or washing your Mum's clothes yourselves.

They have been washing her clothes for a good while and it has not happened before.
Perhaps I should send in a couple of cotton drill boiler suits which are indestructible.

I think that if you live in a care home you should be able to wear exactly the clothes you want and that the care home should look after them properly. It is called person centred care and if you are paying over £1,000 a week to live there this should not be a problem. I work for a charity that runs a care home and when I see the residents dressed in old clothes ( families too mean to buy new ones) usually without make up, some with whiskery chins it makes me really sad. Older people like to look good too!

Precisely 🙏 why limit their choices to things they wouldn't want to wear?
And If they are charging for it they should deliver
Staffing issues are up to them to deal with

You can request for a reimbursement. Ask the home what their policy is and for a request form.

I'd def be saying something to them. Like 'mum has been here for 2 years and this is the first time her clothes have been ruined in the laundry. Do you know what that is?'

Also agree that in a care home residents should be able to wear nice clothes. For some it may what they look forward to.

In an ideal world lots of things would happen. Ideally every old person would get equal access to the best of care and every one be happy and safe and cared for as if in the most wonderful facility money can buy.

However, in the real world of here and now there aren't the rescorces to sort laundry.

I think it's more helpful to be realistic in this circumstance.

We had a resident in our home and all her tops were cashmere or silk, her trousers were linen or silk blends. No way we wanted to ruin them so we put her own hamper in her room and the daughter took the washing home weekly and brought back the clean clothes. She had loads of clothes and I can see how they wouldn't want to have to replace the good things she already had.

Please stop sending in expensive delicate clothes. Many clothes get soiled with bodily waste the care home has to sluice wash them to remove bacteria obviously this is a hot wash with chemicals. Someone might soil their clothes 3-4 times a day plus bedding so there's lots of washing there isn't enough time to give delicate care for clothes.

Is she incontinent? When I worked in a care home years ago many of the washes were 60+ due to this. Sometimes items did get ruined but we didn't have the staff levels to separate laundry.

I think its foolish to expect staff to look at all labels before washing. MY DF goes through 2-3 changes of clothes A DAY, dribbles, poo, wetting his pads and then it soaking into his clothes. Let alone the bedding.

If you really want your relatives to have cashmere, silk etc I would suggest that you take charge of the washing yourself.

@Annoyeddd with the harsher washing regimes, nothing lasts forever. Clothes will have a much shorter lifespan. You can ask for compensation, buts it’s most likely to be due to ‘wear and tear’. If it’s due to a faulty seal on a washer (happens) hopefully they will be honest and reimburse you the cost.

This, the bags dissolve in the wash, specifically for Urine and faecal matter on clothing so the laundry staff cant always see what is inside the bag ( red and opaque)