Things are tough in the care world at the moment. Costs are still rising, and inflation and the general cost of living are making things hard for providers of care and families of potential residents alike. Yet you still want to provide the high quality care standards that you set for yourself and your team. CQC still demand you meet their standards. And resident’s relatives have a right to expect a good level of care. Now, you need to do all this despite falling bottom line profits. The last thing you need is something preventing a room from being filled or potentially reducing your Care Quality Commission ratings.
Talking about the cost of care is a fact of life for care facility managers. Maintaining levels of care is non-negotiable. At the same time. residency levels are a top priority. So, anything that could jeopardise full occupancy is therefore a priority problem. Sadly, one issue, the problem of odours, is often overlooked. However, it could be costing you hundreds of pounds per room more than necessary in specialist cleaning costs and literally thousands more in lost turnover.
Odour management is a critical aspect of maintaining a high standard of care in any residential facility. Unpleasant odours can be a result of a variety of sources. The most common is incontinence but, medical treatments, lingering food and habitation smells, and general wear and tear all play a part.
The CQC recognises the significance of odour control, as it directly affects the environment in which residents live and the overall atmosphere of the care home. In fact, their guidelines specifically address it in relation to cleaning. That means it will also be specifically addressed on a visit. If CQC link the problem of lingering odours to cleanliness, then so will visitors looking to place relatives in your care.
When potential residents and their families visit a care home, they form their initial impressions based on what they see, hear, and, crucially, smell. An unpleasant odour, such as urine, can quickly lead to negative assumptions about the level of care provided. What every care home team can tell you though is that the reality is far more positive. It is just that incontinence causes a persistent odour that will usually quickly return after even the deepest of cleans. This can result in a loss of potential residents through visitors choosing to place their loved ones elsewhere. In a tough financial climate, this can have a direct impact on the viability of the facility.
As far as CQC goes, as soon as they pick up the background odour of incontinence in a resident room, or smell it lingering in soft furnishings, that seed of a question about hygiene has been planted. Now you are fighting uphill to change their view.
What any care home team will also tell you is that in a residential facility with dementia patients, incontinence odours are unavoidable. You can spray a chemical fog around, but mostly that will just add to the odour mix or produce a few minutes of relief at best.
The problem is not that the odours are temporarily in the air. If they were you could simply throw open a window. The issue is that they are ingrained in the environment.
It may seem like these are the only alternatives, but as you will see by reading on, that not only isn’t always correct, but they could also be an ineffective and expensive option.
Deep Clean and/or Replace Carpets.
Carpets in care homes are particularly prone to absorbing odours, especially in areas where spills and accidents are common. Deep cleaning can be an effective way to remove odours, but it is also labour-intensive and costly. Depending on the size of the area and the extent of the odour problem, deep cleaning can cost anywhere from £2 to £4 per square metre. In a large care home, these costs can quickly add up, especially if regular cleaning is required.
Replacing the carpet with something hardwearing and also suitable for a resident room, will be anywhere upwards of £250.
Then you need to add into this the hidden cost of a vacant room waiting for a deep clean or carpet replacement, and the time it is out of commission for drying or laying the replacement.
Finally, simply replacing the carpet is unlikely to be enough to remove the lingering odour.
Replacing Soft Furnishings
In some cases, odours can become so ingrained in soft furnishings, such as sofas, chairs, and curtains, that the only solution is to replace them entirely before they naturally wear out. When multiplied across a facility, the expenses can be substantial. Curtains and blinds together cost at least £100 and if that also includes a mattress and a chair you could be looking at another £600 - £800+
Air Fresheners and Deodorisers
These are commonly used as a quick fix for odour problems. However, the human olfactory sense is very good and, as they only mask odours rather than eliminating them, what you actually smell is the chemical perfume and the incontinence. The ongoing cost of purchasing these products can become significant over time. Moreover, the use of strong fragrances may not be suitable for all residents, particularly those with respiratory issues or sensitivities.
A further, often-forgotten, point is that because chemicals only mask the odours, even if the smell is actually covered up for a few moments, a visitor encounters something they probably associate with hiding a nasty smell.
The Ozofresh Ozone Solution: Cost-Effective and EfficientOur Eclipse Pro technology offers a more effective and long-term solution for odour control in care homes. Instead of masking, we literally destroy the source of the odours. That includes the ones embedded in soft furnishings*.
Ozone is a naturally occurring gas. The Eclipse Pro works by oxidising the molecules that cause odours, effectively neutralising them rather than merely masking the smell. There are four simple stages.
The ozone will now have removed the odours, destroyed them at the source, and returned to oxygen.
There is no CoSHH required because there are no chemicals, minimal safety training is needed and you do not need specialist operators.
The case for using ozone based treatment from Ozofresh is clear.
An Eclipse Pro will turn an average sized resident room around in around an hour*. That means you will have your space back in operation in a fraction of the time required for carpet cleaning or refitting. More to the point, if you then add the use of the Eclipse Pro to your monthly deep clean cycle, and/or as standard practice before a new resident, the odour should never return. All you then need to do is use one of our plugin devices (which can be used with residents in the room) and it will constantly refresh the air and remove further, lighter, odours. There is no way to prevent the source incontinence odours being re-introduced of course, but the Eclipse will always be there should the room need further treatment.
Even better, the Eclipse Pro needs no chemicals and only requires maintenance every two years. This is a minimal cost service and is required to keep the machine running safely and at its best.
As well as saving on carpet cleaning, replacing soft furnishings before they are at the end of their natural lifespan, and reducing the cost of additional deep cleaning, the Eclipse Pro does something more. It creates revenue by preventing a bad impression for a visitor.
So, let’s do a little maths. Assuming you have 3 rooms every year that require 2 carpet cleans and one carpet and curtains replacement. That will roughly cost at least £500 per room. So, we are looking at, allowing a little extra for chemicals and air fresheners as well, around £ 1800 - £2000 per year for those three rooms.
That is over twice the cost of an Eclipse Pro… which will also go on to give you years of continued service.
Also, without those lingering odours to put people off, you may well see an upturn in the number of residents coming to your home. Encountering a clean, fresh smelling environment is, after all, what CQC expect and what relatives want to find when they are considering a facility for their elderly loved ones.
Again, if the Eclipse Pro only changes the decision of one residency in your favour, or prevents one negative CQC decision, it has put money back onto your bottom line.
