Healthcare Workers Uniform Tax Refund

According to studies most of the workers in the health care sector are not washing their uniform properly, Research showed that 49 per cent of the hospital staff are not washing their uniforms at a recommended temperature of 60C, while 40 per cent also washed their uniforms with other clothing.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that white coats and uniforms worn by health care providers are frequently contaminated with bacteria, the British Medical Association recommended that white coats should not be worn when providing patient care and that shirts and blouses should be short-sleeved.

The recommendation that long-sleeved clothing should be avoided comes from studies indicating that cuffs of these garments are more heavily contaminated than other areas and are more likely to come in contact with patients. Wong and colleagues reported that cuffs and lower front pockets had greater contamination than did the backs of white coats, but no difference was seen in colony count from cuffs compared with pockets. Loh and colleagues found greater bacterial contamination on the cuffs than on the backs of white coats.

The biggest and most important step is making sure that your medical laundry is separated from regular laundry. Although laundering will help clean your medical scrubs, those scrubs contain bacteria, blood and other types of grime and infectious materials and should not be combined with regular laundry.

As with all laundry you want to make sure you are washing your scrubs on the correct temperature setting. For medical scrubs, it is important to wash them on a hot setting at a temperature of 160˚F or higher. If you are using bleach it needs to be done with hot water and 50 to 150 parts per million. When washing your medical scrubs, it is important to wash and dry your scrubs with an electric clothes dryer. Drying your scrubs plays a significant role in eliminating bacteria from the fabric.

Another tip for washing medical scrubs is to use a high-quality detergent. It is fine to use a discount detergent on your regular clothes, but medical scrubs need a high-quality detergent to remove grease and grime. Also, high quality detergents should be scent free. When working in the medical field you encounter all different types of sicknesses and health issues, an example is asthma. If you have a scent on your uniform it can irritate those with asthma. Medical professionals don’t wear perfumes and scents to work and so your medical scrubs should not be washed with scents.

If a medical uniform is completely soiled, hand washing the uniform should be completely avoided. Instead a rinse cycle should be performed to reduce the soil and then it can be washed regularly.

nurses, doctors, dentists or other professional working in the health services industry, are amongst a rare group of employees who are eligible to claim extra tax relief for certain expenses they incur as part of their job, also if you wear a uniform to work and your employer provides no laundry facilities or doesn’t provide any allowance to do so, you can get tax relief for the cost of laundering your uniform, but only where you have to meet the costs out of your own pocket. You cannot claim if your employer takes care of the cleaning or provides cleaning tokens or free cleaning facilities for you to use. So if, for any reason, you decide not to use free facilities provided by your employer, because for example you find it more convenient to clean your uniform at home, tax relief will not be due. Nor can you claim uniform laundry costs if you do not have to wear a uniform to do your job. There is no tax relief for the costs of cleaning ordinary clothes. you can claim a tax refund every year for the cost of cleaning your uniform.

The amount may vary depending on your occupation, the table below shows the flat rate allowance set by the HMRC for different occupations in the health care sector, As this is a flat rate allowance, you don’t need to provide receipts or any proof of the actual cost of cleaning