Hospital workers washing own uniforms

Hospital workers are concerned they could be delivering harmful bacteria to their doorstep by washing potentially contaminated uniforms at home.

Frontline staff at Wellington and Hutt hospitals say they have been directed to bag up used workwear and wash it themselves.

A nurse at Hutt Hospital said while washing workwear at home was usual practice, extra measures needed to be established in the face of the extraordinary coronavirus pandemic.

By taking the used clothing home staff felt they were putting themselves and those they lived with in harm’s way, she said.

Staff had requested access to the hospital’s stock of surgical scrubs – which were laundered at the hospital – that were going unused due to the cancellation of elective surgeries but were denied, she said.

At Wellington Hospital a doctor said his team had been instructed to supply their own clothing as stocks of scrubs – which are also laundered on site – were running low.

He said they had been told to bring a change of clothes to work and wash the used ones at home.

‘‘I’m uncomfortable with it and my wife is uncomfortable with it.’’

His team was so desperately short of scrubs some had procured them privately.

A spokeswoman for both Hutt Valley and Capital and Coast district health boards said the organisations were confident personal protective equipment, such as gowns masks, visors, and gloves, was adequate protection from contagion.

‘‘The advice from our infectious disease specialists is that other staff uniforms can be laundered as per the usual process. At this stage we are not looking at alternatives, however we will be guided by expert advice from the Ministry of Health.’’

In a joint statement the Capital and Coast and Hutt Valley district health boards said there was no shortage of scrubs at either hospital.

Incident controller Joy Farley said staff were required to wear scrubs in designated areas where they might be in close contact with Covid-19 positive patients.

Scrubs were not an essential part of infection control, she said.