Choosing The Right Commercial Equipment For Care Homes

Is your care home in the market for new commercial equipment? Are you not sure on how to go about searching for the equipment you need? Do you know the regulations and standards your equipment needs to meet?

At GA Commercial, we have over 20 years of experience in supplying, installing, and maintaining commercial equipment. We’ve put together this guide to help you answer any questions you have about commercial equipment for care homes.

Laundry Equipment for Care Homes

As care homes fall under the healthcare sector, they must abide by the highest levels of cleanliness in order to keep residents safe. In the UK, care homes must fulfil their legal obligations to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Department of Health’s Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 01-04 regulations. 

To meet these legal requirements, it is imperative to get the correct commercial laundry equipment installed and not to try and rely on domestic appliances. This is because proper disinfection must be achieved in every wash cycle. You must also ensure you run heavily soiled laundry through a sluice cycle and pre-wash cycle, where temperatures allow for thermal disinfection, before washing the laundry in an appropriate cycle. 

A well thought out and designed care home laundry room will need to have separate ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ areas to help minimise cross contamination risks.

The same principles apply for drying. You will need to use a commercial dryer that is safety focused to reduce risk. Clothes and linens should also be immediately dried after washing and items removed from the dryers as soon as they are dry. 

All commercial laundry equipment can be made compatible with auto-dosing systems, which can reduce risks involved with the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) and also reduce over usage and spillages of chemicals. An auto-dosing system can also save you money by reducing wastage. 

Catering Equipment for Care Homes

Strict hygiene requirements carry over into care homes catering facilities. Vulnerable residents are more at risk from food poisoning and associated illnesses, whilst outbreaks of E. coli could be more likely due to the weak immune system of residents. 

Just like a care home’s laundry, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) is responsible for inspecting the cleanliness of your kitchen. In addition to this, you will also need a food safety plan in place based on the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. 

To ensure your care home is compliant, you will need to have appropriate refrigeration and cooking appliances in place, that are of commercial grade. 

In the care home’s kitchen, food must be stored at a temperature of 8°C or below. This allows you to control the multiplication of most bacteria in perishable food. To make temperature monitoring easier, commercial fridges usually come equipped with external thermometers. Commercial fridges are also specially designed to maintain the correct temperatures, where a domestic fridge would struggle with this. 

A car home’s commercial freezer should keep food at a temperature of -18°C or below. This will prevent bacteria from multiplying. A blast chiller can also ensure food is cooled rapidly before storing a freezer, reducing bacteria. 

Finally, you will need the correct commercial cooking equipment. Generally speaking, temperatures of 75°C or above are effective in destroying almost all types of bacteria. However, cooking temperatures below this level are also effective provided that the food is held at these temperatures for a suitable time period. 

To ensure high enough temperatures are reached, it’s recommended to use a combi-oven with a built-in temperature probe. Additionally, hot cupboards are ideal way to maintaining temperature. 

About GA Commercial

Our dedicated care home laundry equipment is a top choice for nursing homes and care facilities. With bespoke laundry solutions and the highest standard of aftercare, you can rely on us to handle all of your care home laundry requirements. 

Our superior care home laundry equipment is designed to meet the needs of busy care facilities. Choose from a wide range of washing machines and tumble dryers that are built to last and come with a minimum 12-month warranty to ensure your care home runs smoothly. 

We also offer a commercial fridges and freezers, blast chillers, and combinations.