Laundry and linen services are the managed washing, handling, and supply of textiles - bedding, towels, and workwear - to a controlled standard. Optus Glean UK provides laundry and linen support nationwide on fixed monthly pricing, processing healthcare and care linen to the BS EN 14065 RABC biocontamination-control approach used across the NHS.
The standard for healthcare and care linen: BS EN 14065
Linen used in healthcare and care settings can carry infection risk, so it is processed to a controlled system. BS EN 14065:2016 describes the Risk Analysis and Biocontamination Control (RABC) approach, which lets a laundry continuously assure the microbiological quality of processed textiles - and NHS England's HTM 01-04 (Decontamination of linen for health and social care) references it. Our healthcare and care linen is handled to this approach, supporting infection control in care homes and clinical settings.
How RABC works
RABC is modelled on the HACCP food-safety method: identify the microbiological hazards at each step of the laundry process, assess and classify the risk, apply control measures, set microbiological target levels, monitor them, and take corrective action when a limit is exceeded - all underpinned by a prerequisite programme. In practice that means separating clean and dirty flows, controlling wash temperatures and disinfection, and keeping records that stand up to an audit under CQC Regulation 12.
Linen and laundry across sectors
The service covers bed linen and towels for care and nursing homes, patient and staff linen for clinical settings, and bed linen and towels for hotels and serviced accommodation. It sits naturally alongside washroom services as part of a wider hygiene package, on one contract and one invoice.
Vetted, directly-employed staff
Where laundry staff work inside a care or healthcare setting - collecting and returning linen on a ward or in a home - they are vetted to the same standard as our cleaners: Enhanced DBS checks (with barred-list where the role is regulated activity), or the Disclosure Scotland / AccessNI equivalents, and PAYE-employed. See DBS checks for cleaners.
RABC (BS EN 14065) - the six-step control loop
| Step | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1. Identify hazards | List microbiological hazards at each stage of the laundry process |
| 2. Assess & classify risk | Judge how serious each hazard is |
| 3. Apply control measures | Separate clean/dirty flows, control wash temperature and disinfection |
| 4. Set target levels | Define acceptable microbiological limits |
| 5. Monitor | Check the process stays within target |
| 6. Corrective action | Act when a limit is exceeded, and record it |