Hospital washing is going to be whiter than white after its laundry was upgraded thanks to donations from two companies.

Belco and Butterfield and Vallis gave the donation to the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital which has upgraded its laundry facility with a new washer and folding machines.

The facility, boasting $250,000 of upgrades, was officially opened by Minister of Health, Nelson Bascome at a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the Bermuda Hospital's Board Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Venetta Symonds and Manager of Laundry, Blanche Phillips-Wilkinson.

The project to modernise the laundry began last February and includes the installation of a 450lb washer, two folding machines that are capable of processing sheets, pads, patient gowns, towels and blankets and new technology that monitors failures and assesses productivity and operations.

Laundry from the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute (MAWI) will now also be laundered there.

In addition to the new equipment, there have been various improvements including scales for weighing in linen sent to and returned from wards, additional carts for hospital area, and air-conditioning system, new flooring and a storage area that holds a two day supply of linens for back-up in case of emergencies.

Eight members of the 12-member laundry team have also visited US hospitals and commercial laundries to learn first hand the best practices to adopt.

Mrs. Symonds said: "We have invested in staff and in the physical plant so that we can firmly establish best practice processes and standards in this department.

"I'm very proud of the work of the BHB laundry team. It is vital to the operations of the hospital and directly impacts our ability to provide a high quality level of care to patients."

Ms Phillips-Wilkinson said: "I am so proud to see this modernisation project complete and see BHB's laundry team equipped to provide a service that rivals the best in the world.

"Given the importance of the laundry service to the smooth running of the hospital, I would like to express our appreciation to Butterfield and Vallis and Belco for their generous financial support of this project.

'Thanks to their donations, our facility is delivering a quality service to patients, staff and the community."

On a daily basis, the laundry cleans gowns, bed linens and towels used by out and inpatients as well as scrubs and lab coats used by staff making up 1.5 million pounds of laundry processed each year.