Hospitals Doing Their Own Laundry
Very much depends on where in the world they are located amoung other things.
Whilst once common that most hospitals did have in-house laundry facilites, such service along with quite a few others have been out-sourced over the years. The main push for this is hospitals/healthcare settings seeking to concentrate on their core mission. Thus things which are not seen as essential to that mission, and indeed are a non-revenue producing expense are mananged in such a way as to keep costs down.
Commercial laundries are heavily regulated today, right down to the workers and for good reason. The equipment can not only be dangerous to those whom operate it, but the builing it is housed in and surrounding area as well. As modern "steam laundries" took over from hand washing and or hiring in persons to do the wash it was even then recommended to have such facilites away from the main hospital building or at least far away from patient care as possible. All that heat, water, moisture, smells, etc aren't something you'd want wafting into the wards especially before modern air conditioning was invented.
The first hospital I ever worked in, the laundry was located apart from the main building. A great big gothic thing it was, and considered it a "treat" to be sent by the head nurse to fetch clean linens when the floors were out.
At one time hospitals had few other choices but to do their own wash. Commercial laundries would probably loved to have the business, but their other customers out of concerns about the spread of germs would probably avoid sending their wash. Before modern germ theory and antibiotics came into being a housewife was considered nearly a slattern if she didn't do everything in her power to prevent illness from entering her home. Even priviate washer women could loose business if word got out they took washing from a home where scarlet fever, diptheria and or any of the other once common infectious diseases broke out.
Commercial laundry equipment is very expensive and in today's economy it makes sense to keep it in full production. Also don't forget the workers have to be paid regardless of there being 50lbs of linen or 500lbs per day. Far easier to send it out.
Today all over the world there are major laundry services that do nothing but hospital/healthcare linens. The best are outfitted with equipment some hospitals can only dream about (barrier washers for instance). Quality control issues can be solved by simply putting the proper person in charge. This usually falls to someone in the nursing service, and or infection control. If laundry comes back from the wash failing to meet certain standards you can bet a phone call will be made.
Many hospitals today also have taken a page from restaurants and hotels by not even owning their own linen. It is rented with a contract service that also provides the laundering as well.
At one time most all hospital's either laundered staff uniforms/clothing (mainly doctors and nurses), but as the cost of the service grew and domestic washing machines (and later dryers) became more common (or the laundromat), gradually the service was withdrawn. As female nursing uniforms moved from long sleeved starched whites to easy care cotton, cotton/synthetic blends or all synthetic textiles, the need for "commercial" laundering was decreased if not eliminated. Indeed the near boil wash temps used by such places actually will harm anything but pure cotton fabrics.
Now that most everyone and their mother wears scrubs on duty, there is little need in some minds to offer laundry service. Mind you in the days when doctors and only certian nurses got to wear scrubs they were laundered by the hospital. That is still true today for those working in certain areas. However in some parts of the world (such as Germany) doctors and nurses do not by and large travel to and from work in uniform (scrubs)as they do here in the states. Changing rooms are provided and the soiled things are sent to the hospital's wash and one picks up a fresh set upon arriving for duty.
