HEALTHCARE HYGIENE
Delivering healthcare hygiene amid the NHS crisis
As the NHS crisis deepens, with hospital flu cases soaring by 80% in a week, Paul Mulready, Marketing Manager of Northwood Hygiene Products, looks at how washrooms in healthcare settings can help to tackle the emergency.
Britain is facing a flu crisis as hospital patient numbers rise steeply. In January, the NHS cared for more than 3,700 flu patients a day in just one week – up 80% on the previous week and seven times higher than at the end of November.
Many readers will have seen the shocking
pictures of patients lying on the floor at Aintree Hospital’s A&E in Liverpool at the start of the year. With patients waiting up to 21 hours to be seen, people had nowhere to sit and were being treated in doorways and in the back of ambulances outside.
The pressure is being seen not just in hospitals, but in other services too. Calls to 111 in January were up two thirds on last year, with many people visiting clinics and surgeries because hospitals were beyond capacity.
With the NHS service overstretched and wait times in healthcare settings far longer than before, patients in clinics and surgeries are more likely to visit the washroom while they wait to be seen. It’s therefore more important than ever for them to be clean, hygienic and well-stocked spaces that encourage people to use them.
Preventing infection
After COVID it would be easy to be complacent, but there’s always a threat of serious illness when visiting healthcare settings. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), it’s estimated that 300,000 patients a year contract a Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) as a result of care in the NHS, so it’s vital that visitors are able to wash and dry their hands to combat infection.
With long waiting times making washrooms busier than ever, managers need to control the use of disposable products, such as soap and towels, which are likely to deplete very quickly. Keeping dispensers well stocked is essential, so providers should look for controlled-use dispensers that restrict the use of consumables. Preventing overuse not only helps to reduce costs, it also reduces waste and is therefore more environmentally sustainable.
High-capacity washroom solutions that curb overconsumption will also help to overcome the problem of run-outs between maintenance visits, which are frustrating for visitors and add extra pressure onto already busy janitorial staff.
38 | TOMORROW'S CLEANING Supporting good hand hygiene
A solution like the Raphael proprietary washroom system from Northwood can help healthcare washrooms to deliver optimum hygiene credentials, whilst achieving cost-in-use, performance and sustainability.
Helping to support good hand hygiene in the highest traffic washrooms, Raphael combines a number of hygiene- promoting features and offers users a choice of four hand towel dispensers.
The dispensers provide contactless dispensing to minimise bacteria and the sheets are dispensed at a consistent length to facilitate effective hand drying and reduce waste. All Raphael hand drying systems dispense one at a time flat sheets to prevent overuse and, because the user only touches the paper they are using, they help to reduce the spread of germs. Made from a single-piece shell, the dispensers are easy to wipe clean and all towels are fully enclosed for added hygiene.
The roll towel dispensers can dispense 1,000 sheets, with some offering stub-roll transfer to ensure zero waste, and the folded towel dispenser has a 1,000-sheet capacity.
In addition to the hand drying dispensers, the high-capacity Raphael collection also includes a soap dispenser and two toilet tissue dispensers, which incorporate BioKleen technology to inhibit the growth and spread of bacteria.
Well-equipped washrooms are vital and we’re proud to support the healthcare sector with solutions that optimise hygiene, reduce consumption and reduce waste at an incredibly challenging time.
www.northwood.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90
