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).

Care Homes have to follow public health guidance for infection control and since Covid all clothing has to be washed at above 65 degrees. If its soiled it will go on a 90 degree wash. Such a shame that so many residents of care homes are having their clothing ruined.

Meanwhile back in the real world of care …..

just isn’t going to happen I’m afraid. They may want to wear xyz item - but it may no longer fit them or be a safe, sensible outfit, might not accommodate medical equipment etc or just be impossible to physically dress them in it.
As for staff - minimum wage for laundry staff, dealing with excrement, other bodily fluids, transmittable diseases…..often early starts, long days, in a hot, damp sweatshop.
Not many people want the job. So it gets shared between anyone on staff who happens to have 5 mins to bing a load on or swap laundry from one machine to another.

This is why unfortunately

Meanwhile back in the real world of care …..

Eight words we all need to take notice of. It's certainly not going to get any better in the foreseeable future. Sad to say damaged clothes should probably be the least of our worries. Care homes are understaffed, under-financed, and under pressure. Many unable to meet any other than the most basic of needs of a rising, ageing population, and sometimes failing to do even that.

I think you're being unreasonable. My mother has been in a care home for several years and I was told at the start that everything got put on a hot wash so clothing needed to be able to withstand that, no wool or other delicate fabrics. I understand the reasons, and my mother mainly wears cotton now.

If your mother has been in the care home 'a year or two' and this is the first time you've had to replace clothing that doesn't seem too bad to me. In four years I've probably had to replace over a dozen items - I find pyjamas need replacing once a year because the hot wash is harsh on the elastic. But it's nice for her to have new things (not that she can appreciate it any more really).

When my dad had to move into a nursing home, we were told from the outset not to provide any clothes that couldn't be washed at at least 60 because they all went in together. It's not ideal but it's an infection control issue.

You do realise a care home of 60 ppl on average washes 3 changes of clothes a day per person plus clean beeding towels ect there is not enough hours in the day to sort everything what has probably happened is its been red begs ie soiled and they don't touch the clothes they go into the washin the bags and washed at a high temperature to kill all the stuff on them

In an ideal world yes but what do you suggest a care home does with a silk skirt that has faeces on it? Hand wash it and risk infection or clean it according to infection control protocols?

Norovirus rips through care homes and if I was a resident I would rather reduce my risk of noro by wearing clothes that can be washed easily.

So it is a one off?

The instructions we had were all clothes will be washed at 60 degrees, do not send items that need a cooler wash

The nursing home I used to work in had residents with wool/silk or clothes that needed certain washes and their family members took them once a week to wash them and brought them back.

One resident even had a laundry service who collected and dropped off her clothes

Exactly and they think a thousand pounds a week is alot lol.

We were told how the laundry was done. ie it all goes jn together. Any knitwear or favourite delicates were collected by us and washed at home. All items had to be named in permanent ink and I just added Please send home!! on the neckband or wherever and hoped for the best. 🤞

omg I would have put you as number one perfect family just for that one act alone.
labelling it as ‘send home’ is perfect!!!!

on behalf of care home staff “THANK YOU!”

@Alphabet1spaghetti2

I honestly can't thank you and all the other care home staff enough for the job you do. You are undervalued and definitely underpaid. My mum's home has only twenty residents and runs on a shoestring but the staff never complain (in our earshot anyway!) and make us feel our relative is the most special person in the world.
Things will sometimes go missing, get broken etc, it's the nature of the establishment, just like schools, nurseries, etc. it can't be helped.

And I think this is reasonable, but the @Annoyeddd wasn't told this so they should pay

They should have a compensation policy for these type of incidents - check with them xx

Would you send a toddler to nursery in expensive clothes?
They'll spill food on them, have toilet accidents etc.
Exactly the same as care home residents. And adult toilet accidents are usually larger volumes, so spread more widely.

YABU. The clothes need to be washed hot for a reason.

There are also massive staffing issues across the care sector.

Look for stuff that your Mum would like that is easily washable. We've had a bit of a hit with personalised sweatshirts (and they have the advantage that they always get back to the correct person as they have their name on the front!)

By the time my Dad was in a nursing home, we were aware of how laundry was processed. It was also requested after a while that we provided not casual clothes, polo shirts and jogging bottoms. We didn't mind as by this point it was important that he was in clothes that were easy to put on and take off as he could be very difficult as his body had become quite ridgid. It was more important that he was safe and comfortable, rather than dressed in a shirt, tie and trousers.

I worked in a care home laundry. Infection prevention and control is law. You can't get around it. Soiled laundry must be placed in a special red bag with a soluble strip (sluice bags) and washed at 65°c for 10 minutes or 71°c for 3 minutes. Not following these strict guidelines puts the home at risk of being fined or shut down.

I'm now a carer and unfortunately the majority of residents do require their clothes to go through sluice washes daily. All clothes and nightwear are washed after one use. Some require multiple changes a day.
Most laundry does just fine but sometimes clothing loss happens.

We did have one lady who wasn't happy her mum's clothes were washed in sluice washes, didn't have the right fabric conditioner, weren't freshly pressed (though we did try to iron creased garments best we could) we bagged everything up and she washed them at home. We could only request that she washed soiled items at the legally required temperatures. I doubt she did.

I find this so sad. I completely understand it but I still find it sad.

It is pretty unrealistic to expect that every item of clothing is checked for special washing instructions. Care homes are busy places.
My MIL is in a care home and we try and supply nice clothes she'll like that are practical and comfortable..plus easy to look after. She's always clean and presentable. But I just wouldn't get her clothes that were especially valuable or fragile.

I didn't realise that I shouldn't be sending antique lace and silk clothing for her to wear.
Seriously though - I have taken replacement clothes in for her before on several occasions - I don't expect items to last forever but these were nearly new for the summer. Anything I take in is looked at by the carers for ease of getting her dressed and presumably for washability and it was the carer who was critical of the laundry staff for putting all the laundry in the boil wash.
What makes me worry is the comment saying items should be washed at 65 or 71 degrees - does this mean a resident had to have their bottom washed at this temperature of they have soiled themselves.

Many people in care homes for have continence or mobility issues. I think it's highly likely that -some - residents need clothes hot washing for this reason. But also this requirement could extend to blood and vomit, so if you had a nosebleed for example.