STERILE SERVICES Cont. from page 75
“This puts a lot of pressure on the trust and I believe that it can be managed better – which involves the companies giving us more time. I think that there is a need for a nationwide programme to improve the management of loaned instruments.
“Sometimes these instruments can be very simple but often they are extremely complicated.
“This means that staff need to be trained in how to dismantle them properly and then clean them – however, sometimes they come late and there is not a company representative to come and give the training. This presents a major challenge to us.”
These issues, and a number of others, mean that managing this kind of unit is extremely hard work, as it is with any NHS related unit where patients’ lives are at risk if something goes wrong.
“As a manager you have to work to the budget which you are given which means that to improve services you have to innovate. In terms of my department, we have had to find significant financial efficiencies as part of our cost improvement programme.”
Olga says that this involves looking at all angles of the service they provide, whether it is outside the department in terms of which supplier they use or how the team works inside the department.
“The good thing is that my staff don’t need to be checked up on – they are fully qualified and take individual responsibility for each set they process. This makes the department far more efficient.”
Keeping busy P
roviding
decontamination services for any hospital is a big responsibility. Delivering those services for two hospitals and customers outside the trust presents even more challenges.
“The main unit is based at St Thomas’ where we process around 7.5 million instruments a year,” says Anne-Marie Watts, head of sterile services at the trust. “This includes the on- site locations, made up of 44 individual theatre sites, which includes main theatres, day surgery, Evelina Children’s Hospital and Guy’s Dental School, which is the largest in Europe.
“We also provide services to 23 external customer sites. Every week the unit reprocesses 2,300 instrument sets, 3,300 supplementary packs and 7,500 dental packs. We also manage central endoscopy where we process 300 scopes per week, for internal and external customers. We have been a fully accredited unit for the past fourteen years and compliant to all the relevant standards.
“The unit is staffed by 120 production staff who are all multi-skilled working within a highly technical and very controlled environment. The unit is audited by an external Notified body, with regular internal audit and quality management controls. Legislation and compliance is a big challenge for us and we always work very hard to ensure we maintain the highest standards to meet requirements.
Anne-Marie Watts
“We have focused on creating a highly skilled team and have a very dedicated and loyal workforce. Over the past few years we have also brought in trained sterile service staff to ensure we continually develop and improve the services.”
The unit includes wash and decontamination areas with modern automatic machinery and its own purified water system for final rinse. The large clean room has totally segregated environmental conditions, including filter air conditioning to minimise bacterial contamination and a stringently controlled sterilisation unit with modern automatic steam sterilisers fed with clean steam.
Working within the clean room environment means that staff need to follow strict gowning up procedures. The unit is also dealing with very expensive kit with some instruments worth in excess of £50k so security arrangements are well managed.
“The job which the team carries out is highly technical and regulated and they have to know
78 nhe
With one of the busiest sterile services units in the country, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust provides decontamination services for a wide range of customers and specialities reports Richard Mackillican
how to deal with many different types of instruments across the various specialities. That means that training and development is very much the focus as well as working within the quality management system”.
The trust has a strong focus on personal development and training within the quality management system providing many career opportunities for staff. Within the unit, 34 staff have completed the NVQ in Decontamination Level 3 and a further 40 are taking part in the apprenticeship scheme from Eastwood Park.
“The unit is very customer focused with the trust edict being ‘patient safety at all times’, which means that we always ensure we get the right kit back on time and fit for use so that the patient’s safety is secured with regards to instrument quality.”
In terms of running and delivering a service of this size and importance, Anne- Marie’s team has a very modern approach.
“Ever since my arrival two years ago, we have instigated numerous changes as part of the management change programme. This involved new state of the art reprocessing equipment, new electronic tracking systems, new tray systems and updated production pathways, which provides a highly efficient quality service. The unit is now highly productive, providing scope for the trust to attract future business opportunities.”
Nov/Dec 10
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