DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION
wastewater systems playing a significant role. The design of wastewater systems has remained unchanged for over 30 years. The New Hospital Programme (NHP) will be designing and building hospitals which will be operating when antimicrobial resistance is predicted to be at its fiercest. NHP has the opportunity to be the first organisation to design and construct hospitals from the outset to minimise the dispersal of antimicrobial resistance from wastewater systems. There is a subtlety and complexity to
Figure 2: The left part of the image highlights issues in the built environment which may give rise to patient infection. Hospitals utilise barriers to prevent patients becoming infected – this includes Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICP) and infection control surveillance. With infections arising from water and wastewater, SICP are in general ineffective. While infection control surveillance may detect patient infections, it has low sensitivity in tracing the source of the infection back to the built environment.
response. Up until now the UK national action plan to prevent the progression of antimicrobial resistance has not included the built environment – a major omission. Highly antibiotic-resistant organisms
are naturally carried within the human bowel, where most of the time they cause no harm. Such organisms will
invariably enter wastewater systems. Since 2012 publications have highlighted that wastewater systems can provide a ‘superhighway’ for dispersal of antimicrobial resistance within healthcare facilities. A Manchester hospital has been an ongoing source of highly resistant organisms for over a decade, the
competence, which is often not readily apparent or appreciated. It moves beyond competence of an individual. No one would question that to be effective the project Water Safety Group collectively must have all the necessary competencies around the table or access to them. To deliver this involves: 1. Identifying what competencies are required for the project.
2. Identifying whether individuals have the necessary competencies.
1. Identifying what competencies are required
For healthcare this will involve: A Identifying high-risk patient groups (where the risks and their mitigation from water services may be different to standard patients).
ACROVYN® WALL & DOOR PROTECTION 28 Health Estate Journal April 2024
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
