SLUICE ROOM EFFICIENCY
Zoe Allen
With directly employed engineers countrywide, DDC Dolphin says it is ‘the only sluice room equipment manufacturer able to service all makes and models of sluice machine’.
solutions such as Vacumatic, a 100% hygienic, efficient, and odourless system. Hermetically sealed bags store waste safely and vacuum-compact it – reducing the cost of disposal. If a sluice room machine breaks down, then the impact is all too obvious. Equally insidious, however, are the hidden extra costs that are accruing in machines which appear to be working perfectly, and yet may be underperforming. Limescale build-up in a bedpan washer-disinfector can significantly increase its operating costs, because more energy is needed to heat the chamber. A mere 1 mm of limescale can increase operating costs by 11%. Limescale can also stop the heating filament from reaching the temperature needed to properly disinfect waste utensils.
Multiply that 11% rise in operating costs
by the dozens of bedpan washers in the average hospital, and the energy bill swiftly mounts up. For every nine bedpan washers you operate, you’re effectively paying for the energy of a 10th machine that isn’t there – and that is before you begin to consider the negative impact on your hospital carbon footprint – at a time when environmental targets are very much a priority.
Degreaser and scale inhibitor Furthermore, bedpan washers need degreaser and scale inhibitor, and medical pulp macerators require disinfectant to stop bacteria from growing inside, which must, incidentally, be the right disinfectant. Cheap alternatives may look good on paper, but they often need higher dosages – so more has to be purchased. That means more administration, and more time… and suddenly the so-called saving is not the value proposition it promised to be. Use the wrong chemicals or the
58 Health Estate Journal April 2023
incorrect dosing, meanwhile, and your machine may not last as long. Worse still, the risk of infection increases – making the possibility of an HCAI outbreak more likely. Outsourcing the servicing, maintenance, and supply of chemicals is the obvious solution. As a facilities management professional, however, do you really want to be dealing with a plethora of suppliers, all with their own contracts, timescales, quirks, and foibles?
Servicing all makes and models As previously stated, DDC Dolphin is the only sluice room equipment manufacturer capable of servicing all makes and models of sluice machines, using its own directly employed engineers. They provide a rapid- response call-out service throughout the UK, based on 24- to 72-hour service level agreements. Engineers are based all over the country, minimising the time spent travelling to hospitals – speeding up the response to call-outs. These engineers are trained to operate within strict infection prevention protocols, and are equipped with high levels of personal protective equipment (PPE). Hospitals that specialise in treating highly contagious tropical diseases depend on these specialists for sluice room equipment servicing, maintenance, and installations.
Streamlining administration Estates and facilities managers can streamline the administration of this vital servicing work through a series of ‘360° care packages’ and agreements that help Trusts to: n avoid unplanned costs. n catch potential issues before they develop, preventing unexpected downtime, and extending the lifespan of machines.
n accurately forecast budgets, thanks to
Marketing and Product Innovation director at DDC Dolphin, Zoe Allen, joined the company in May 2016 as Marketing manager, before becoming Marketing director in January 2017. In October 2021, her role expanded to include product innovation to further strengthen DDC Dolphin’s position at the forefront of sluice room technical development. DDC Dolphin manufactures medical pulp macerators, bedpan washer- disinfectors, and incontinence product macerators. The company also supplies the Vacumatic waste disposal system and UVMATIC air purifiers. Zoe Allen is responsible for the planning, development, and delivery, of all of DDC Dolphin’s global marketing, brand, and communication strategies and activities. She works closely with the group’s UK and international sales teams and global distributor network. In February 2021, she also became Marketing director at Hygenex, a DDC Dolphin brand now a separate company in its own right whose products include machine and patient care consumables, hospital- grade stainless steel furniture, and sluice room accessories.
fixed-price packages over five years.
n guarantee the timely supply of all the necessary chemicals (with discounts) based on yearly, quarterly, or monthly deliveries.
This creates a virtuous circle which enables Trusts to improve their sluice rooms while still remaining within budget. Money saved through extended machine life, greater reliability, and lower energy usage, enables Trusts to replace older equipment with new machines… which in turn perform better and save yet more money. This is all to the benefit of patients, clinicians, and the wider community, through superior infection control and lower carbon emissions.
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
