Chapter 4: Infection prevention and control
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Management of soiled linen in the healthcare environment
Related theory
As with waste, soiled linen must be managed so as to minimize any risk to any person coming into contact with it. This is done by clearly identifying any soiled linen that may present a risk through the use of colour coding and limiting any contact with such linen through the use of water‐soluble bags to contain the linen so that laundry staff do not have to handle it before it goes into the washer (DH [28], [32]).
Linen that may present a risk may be described as foul, infected or infested. The management of all hazardous linen is similar, so the following procedure applies to any linen that:
- is wet with blood or other high‐risk body fluids (see the section on prevention and management of inoculation injury below) or faeces
- is from a patient in source isolation for any reason (that is, where enteric, contact or droplet/airborne precautions are in place)
- is from a patient who is infested with lice, fleas, scabies or other ectoparasites.
Note that this procedure can be much more easily carried out by two people working together.
Procedure guideline 4.19
