From charging a fair fee to managing the cost of day-to-day supplies, balancing your care home’s budget responsibly is integral to its success.

In order for a care home to prosper, it must – first and foremost – have a good reputation for safety, compassion and comfort; but secondly, it should also provide the value for money that residents and their families are looking for.

A combination of these factors will allow a care home to remain competitive in its market and thrive as a business. In turn, residents will benefit from the best service available.  

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While your workforce is likely to be the biggest cost, it isn’t the only one you must pay close attention to.

Insurance, IT equipment, utilities and care consumables will also form a large percentage of your outgoings.

Unlike insurance and equipment costs, the use of consumables requires near constant attention from those responsible for procurement. Stock must be constantly available, with cashflow managed to ensure that the best price is always obtained. After all, if supply of consumable products is unreliable, so is the quality of care.

When it comes to preventing outbreaks of infection, providing reliable sluice room consumables is essential.

Bedpan washer disinfectors and macerators are key components in managing human waste and preventing HCAIs such a C. difficile and MRSA.

Although your sluice room machinery will continue to function without additional chemicals, they can’t do their job properly without suitable consumable products – they’re essential to keeping machines hygienic and well-maintained.

As sluice room chemicals aren’t often seen by residents, guests or even some staff, it can be tempting to cut back on their use – after all, would anybody notice?

Ultimately, however, these chemicals exist for a reason – and compromising on their use is equal to jeopardising your infection control procedures.  

In order for your investment in sluice room equipment to work as you intended – and truly pay off in terms of infection control – you need to keep suitable chemicals in immediate supply.

Using consumables that aren’t made to suit your specific machine can dramatically affect both your budget and operations.

Did you know that just 1mm of limescale can increase energy usage by up to 11%?

When sluice room machinery isn’t properly cared for, the impact is costly – but not just in regard to your finances.

Limescale can also prevent bedpan washers from reaching a high enough temperature, thus exposing your residents to infection when reusable items go back into circulation without being adequately disinfected.

Similarly, the disinfectant required to destroy bacterial build-up in pulp macerators must be of suitable quality; economy alternatives often require a larger dose to achieve the same result as the recommended product, resulting in more frequent purchasing, greater exposure to risk and a general false economy.

In addition, machines which are used without regular chemical dosing are more likely to experience breakdowns; resulting in more engineer callouts, increased downtime and – again – unnecessary exposure to infection for those in your care.

Keep your staff and residents safe from HCAIs with continuous protection from Hygenex EcoWash+ and EcoCleanse+.

EcoWash+ aids washing and the daily functioning of Panamatic bedpan washers, as well as preventing the limescale and mineral build-up which can damage your machine.

Safe for use on aluminium and silverware, your residents will benefit from unparalleled protection against infection.

For pulp macerator users, EcoCleanse+ aids cleaning, degreasing and disinfection in Pulpmatic bedpan macerators.

Tested against BSEN1276 and BSEN13704, EcoCleanse+ is proven to be effective against MRSA, listeria, salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus, enterococcus hirae and clostridium difficile – providing essential protection against HCAIs which can stem from poor sluice room hygiene.

360° Chemical from DDC Dolphin makes the purchase of sluice room consumables quicker, easier and more effective than ever.

Allowing you to pay for only what you need, our 360° Chemical packages will ensure that you always have the consumable products you require, delivered at a frequency and volume to suit you.

We utilise our knowledge of your facility type, number of beds and type of care you provide to accurately forecast the quantity of bedpan washer scale inhibitor or macerator disinfectant that you’re likely to use.

If you already order your consumables from DDC Dolphin, we can apply your historical order data to arrange regular deliveries, with yearly, quarterly or monthly drop-offs to suit your storage needs – and a standing order for payment set up accordingly.

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