Cost Per Use for Reusable OT Linen: How to Budget Theatre Textiles

The cost per use of a reusable OT gown or drape is its total lifetime cost divided by the number of times it is actually used. Lifetime cost includes the purchase price, but also laundering, sterilisation, inspection, repair, tracking, losses and storage. Purchase price is often a small share of the total, so the cheapest item to buy is not always the cheapest to own.

This post sets out a practical way to work out cost per use for reusable theatre textiles, which figures to collect, and how to use the result in budgets and comparisons.

The basic formula

Cost per use = (purchase cost + lifetime processing cost + other lifetime costs) / actual uses

Each part needs care:

• Purchase cost is the landed cost of the item, including shipping and any marking or labelling.
• Lifetime processing cost is the cost of one reprocessing cycle multiplied by the number of cycles.
• Other lifetime costs include repairs, tracking labels or tags, and a share of losses.
• Actual uses is the number of times the item is really used before it is retired, which may be lower than its reuse limit.

Because processing cost is paid every cycle, it usually dominates. Purchase cost is spread over every use, so a longer-lasting item can be worth paying more for.

What goes into each cycle

The cost of one cycle is the figure most often underestimated. Build it up from the parts:

Cost element	What it covers	Where to get the figure
Collection and transport	Bags, trolleys, porter or vehicle time	Facilities, logistics or laundry contract
Laundering	Water, energy, chemicals, labour, or the outsourced price per kg or per item	Laundry provider or in-house laundry budget
Drying and finishing	Energy and labour	Laundry
Inspection	Staff time at the light table	CSSD or laundry staffing
Folding and packing	Staff time, pack labels	CSSD
Sterilisation	Steriliser running costs, wraps or containers, staff time, validation	CSSD
Storage and issue	Space and handling	CSSD and theatre stores

If your laundry is outsourced and charged by weight, convert it to a per-item cost using the item's dry weight. Heavier items, such as large drapes, cost more to process per cycle than lighter ones.

The figure that changes everything: actual uses

The number of uses an item really achieves depends on:

• The reuse limit set by your infection-control team for that item. See how many times surgical gowns can be reused.
• Early retirements at inspection, from holes, stains or damaged fastenings.
• Losses, when items leave the loop and never return.
• Shrinkage or fading that makes items unusable before the limit.

If an item has a limit of a certain number of cycles but on average is lost or retired at two-thirds of that, the purchase cost carried by each use is about half as high again as the figure based on the limit. Processing cost per cycle stays the same, but the item has to be replaced sooner. That is why cycle tracking matters for budgeting as well as safety. Our guide to tracking reuse cycles for OT linen explains how to collect the data.

A step-by-step calculation

1. Pick one item, for example a size L surgeon gown.
2. Find the landed purchase cost per item, including shipping and marking.
3. Calculate the cost of one cycle using the table above.
4. Find the actual average uses from tracking data, or estimate conservatively if you have none.
5. Add other lifetime costs: repair costs averaged across items, tracking labels or tags, and a loss allowance.
6. Apply the formula and record the assumptions you used.
7. Repeat for each main item: large drapes, Mayo and trolley covers, wrapping cloths.

Write down every assumption. When someone challenges the figure, the assumptions are what you will be discussing.

A worked template

The template below uses letters instead of prices so you can drop in your own figures.

• P = landed purchase cost per gown
• C = cost of one reprocessing cycle
• U = actual average uses before retirement
• R = average repair, tracking and loss allowance per gown over its life

Cost per use = (P + R) / U + C

Written this way, the formula shows clearly that the cycle cost C is paid in full on every use, while P and R are shared across uses. Raising U by improving fabric choice, inspection and loss control reduces the first part; only process changes reduce C. That is a useful way to frame discussions between procurement, the CSSD and the laundry, because it shows which team controls which part of the cost.

Comparing reusable with disposable

Many hospitals use cost per use to compare reusable items with single-use alternatives. A fair comparison includes:

• For disposables: purchase price, storage, waste handling and disposal, and the cost of keeping enough stock on hand.
• For reusables: everything in the formula above, plus the capital or contract costs of laundry and sterilisation capacity if you need to add it.

Results vary widely between sites because laundry costs, sterilisation capacity, waste charges and achieved reuse differ so much. Avoid relying on figures from other countries or industry reports without checking that their assumptions match yours. Our post on reusable vs disposable surgical gowns covers the wider trade-offs, including practical and clinical ones that cost does not capture.

Ways to lower cost per use

Most of the levers are operational, not about the purchase price:

• Reduce losses with clear collection routines, marking and stock counts.
• Reduce early retirements by choosing fabrics and construction that suit your laundry process, and by feeding inspection findings back into the specification.
• Avoid over-processing, such as items sent through the full cycle unused because packs contain more than is needed. Review pack contents with the theatre team.
• Right-size items, since oversized drapes cost more to buy and to launder every cycle.
• Keep the specification consistent, so reorders match and one reuse limit and process can apply across batches.
• Plan orders, so you are not forced into emergency purchases at higher cost.

Using cost per use in budgets

Once you have a figure for each item, you can link it directly to activity:

Annual linen cost = sum of (cost per use x annual uses) for each item

This makes it easier to show what happens to the budget if theatre activity grows, a new service opens or the laundry contract changes. It also helps when writing a tender, since you can ask suppliers for information that affects lifetime cost, such as fabric performance through repeated washing, not just unit price.

Checklist

• Landed purchase cost per item, including shipping and marking
• Cost per reprocessing cycle built up from its parts
• Actual average uses from tracking data
• Repair, tracking and loss allowances included
• Assumptions written down
• Figures reviewed when activity or the laundry contract changes

MISHAREN does not publish prices: each quotation is prepared for your items, quantities and marking, and confirms lead time including production at its own unit in Konni, Kerala, and shipping to the UAE. For a quotation to feed into your cost-per-use figures, visit the OT gowns and drapes page or contact us.