Bedbug Control Archway

How Bedbugs Get Between Work and Home

They do not jump onto people and they do not live on skin. They shelter in fabric and in folds and get carried: in a uniform bundled into a rucksack, a cardigan left on a chair, a lanyard pouch, a bag set down by a bed. A patient's belongings can bring them onto a ward, and a staff bag can take them away again.

So the aim is not to disinfect yourself. It is to keep work fabric and your own bed apart, and to deal with anything that crosses between them. Lockers, staff rooms and the chair you sit in on a break matter far less than the bag you take home and where you put it down when you walk in.

Coming Home From a Shift

1. Change at work if you can and carry the uniform home in a sealed bag rather than loose in a rucksack.
2. Bag goes to the hallway, not the bedroom. A hard floor, off the carpet, well away from where you sleep.
3. Uniform straight into the machine. Hot wash and a full hot dry. Do not sit on the bed in it first.
4. Look at the bag's seams now and then with a torch, especially if a patient or colleague has mentioned bedbugs.

Going to Work From an Affected Home

If you already have them at home, your employer is likely to want to know, and occupational health or your manager can tell you what the policy is. What helps most is simple: freshly washed and hot-dried uniform packed straight into a sealed bag, a bag with hard sides, and treatment for the flat sooner rather than later, because that removes the source.

Whether you work at the Whittington or further across the city, the aim is the same. For bites, a pharmacist or GP is the right person; call 999 for any signs of a severe allergic reaction. We can tell you what we find in your home, but we are not the people to advise on infection control at work.

Treatment Around Shift Patterns

Night shifts and long days make scheduling awkward. Heat treatment is one visit, most of a day, and kills eggs as well as adults, so it is often the easier fit for shift workers. It costs more than chemical. Chemical treatment is shorter per visit but usually needs two, sometimes three, spaced 10–14 days apart. Treatments start from £220; we give the figure for your rooms on the phone.

If you are not sure whether what you have seen is bedbugs at all, an inspection from £120 settles it. Our London guide on bedbugs or something else may help first. We work in homes across Archway and the rest of Islington.

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