What temperature should care home laundry be washed at?

HTM 01-04 treats a disinfection cycle as satisfactory when the water is raised to 65°C and held for not less than ten minutes, or to 71°C for not less than three minutes. Other temperatures held for an appropriate time can also be acceptable, and chemo-thermal processes exist for heat-sensitive items.

What does CQC expect from a care home laundry?

Regulation 12(2)(h) requires the provider to assess the risk of, and prevent, detect and control the spread of, infections, and regulation 15 requires premises and equipment to be clean, suitable and properly maintained. In practice that means evidence: disinfection capability, validation, maintenance records, segregation procedure and staff training.

Guide

Care home laundry requirements: temperatures, machines and evidence

Q: Can a care home use a domestic washing machine?

Only for limited purposes. NHS Scotland's care home infection prevention and control manual states domestic-type machines are not typically programmed with the temperature settings required for thermal disinfection, so they may only be used for residents' personal clothing, while used linen such as sheets needs a machine capable of a validated temperature disinfection stage.

Updated 2026-08-14

This is the part of the specification that is not negotiable, and the reason a care home cannot buy the machine a launderette would buy.

The disinfection cycle, stated plainly

The guidance for health and social care linen in England is Health Technical Memorandum 01-04, Decontamination of linen for health and social care, published by NHS England. On thermal disinfection it says: 'The disinfection cycle will be considered satisfactory when the water temperature has been raised to 65°C and held at this temperature for a period of not less than ten minutes or at a temperature of 71°C for a period of not less than three minutes' (HTM 01-04, management and provision).

HTM 01-04 also allows that other temperatures held for an appropriate time can be acceptable and capable of producing a disinfected product, and covers chemo-thermal processes for items that cannot take the heat. What it does not allow is guessing. If you are relying on a disinfection stage, the machine has to reach it, hold it, and be able to show that it did.

Why a domestic machine does not do this

NHS Scotland's care home infection prevention and control manual puts the practical point bluntly: 'Domestic-type washing machines are not typically programmed with the temperature settings required for thermal disinfection, therefore domestic-type machines may only be used for laundering personal items of clothing belonging to residents, such as those that are heat-labile.' It goes on: 'Other types of used linen such as sheets should be reprocessed using a machine that is capable of a validated temperature disinfection stage' (NHS Scotland care home IPC manual).

That single sentence is the reason a care home laundry costs more than a laundrette's. Homes in England work to HTM 01-04 and to the Department of Health and Social Care code of practice on preventing and controlling infections, which the Care Quality Commission takes into account, but the machine requirement lands the same way.

Handling: the bit inspectors actually watch

Infectious linen goes straight into a water-soluble bag, secured, then into a clear plastic bag and into the laundry receptacle. The point is that nobody handles it again before it goes in the machine.
Categorise at the point of use, not at the laundry door.
Do not mix residents. NHS Scotland's care home manual describes it as best practice to launder a resident's personal items separately, rather than mixing items from several people in one load.
Gloves and apron before handling infectious linen, disposed of afterwards.
A clean flow through the room. Dirty in one door, clean out another if the building allows, and never clean linen stored where used linen is handled.

Where the regulator comes in

For CQC-registered providers in England, laundry sits under regulation 12 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, safe care and treatment, which requires 'assessing the risk of, and preventing, detecting and controlling the spread of, infections, including those that are health care associated' at 12(2)(h) (CQC). Regulation 15 covers premises and equipment being clean, secure, suitable and properly maintained.

Practically, that means your laundry evidence pack needs to exist: the machine's disinfection capability, its validation, the maintenance record, the segregation procedure, and staff training on it.

What to specify when you buy

A washer-extractor with a controlled, recorded disinfection stage that can hold 65°C for ten minutes or 71°C for three.
Annual validation of that stage, and a clear statement of who performs it and what the certificate looks like.
Sluice or pre-wash capability for heavily soiled items, and a programme set that matches what your residents actually generate.
Separate provision for personal clothing, which is where the family complaints come from, and where lower temperatures and smaller loads are appropriate.
A service contract with a stated response time, because a care home with no working washing machine is an incident, not an inconvenience.

This page describes published guidance and regulation and is not clinical or regulatory advice. HTM 01-04 applies in England, the devolved nations publish their own equivalents, and your own infection prevention and control policy governs. Check the current version of any document before relying on it.