Sterilisation protocol

we never leave dirty instruments over knight at the end of every session am pm we scrub and pouch our instruments and hand pieces and put into autoclave befor we leave.

If you're keeping instruments in the clinical area once sterilised then you have to either reprocess them at the end of the day / beginning of the next working day, or keep them in pouches. You can keep them unwrapped for up to a week if you store them in a non-clinical area though.
Either way, if they're not in pouches they should be kept somewhere like a cupboard or a drawer, not left out on an open worktop etc.

You can leave the instruments in disinfectant or some kind of solution designed for soaking overnight in a bowl in the sink, as by the time you have 1. ultasonicd 2. autoclaved the end of day instruments, it will be time to go to bed.
The ultrasonic must be left clean and empty and so should the autoclave.This is all stated in the HTM105 document.
I hope this helps.

My end of day routine consists of autoclaving instruments and putting them away. Most of my colleagues think nothing of leaving things on a tray to be autoclaved the next day or autoclaving the instruments and either leaving them in the autoclave or putting them on top and covering with a tissue. Please tell me this wrong???!!!! Also, if instruments are not going to be reused within 24 hours, they need to be autoclaved and bagged????? Very frustrated!!!!