DESIGN, BUILD, AND ENGINEERING
‘Extremely complex’ plant installation at ‘supercentre’
The creation of a highly advanced decontamination ‘supercentre’ for the Royal Free NHS Foundation Trust on a standalone site in Enfield, which is not only enabling the Trust to decontaminate and sterilise surgical instruments from its three main hospitals – Barnet Hospital, Chase Farm Hospital, and The Royal Free Hospital – considerably more efficiently under one roof, but also to take on such work from other NHS Trusts, required an extremely complex plant installation, masterminded and undertaken by construction and engineering services specialist, CFES. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, visited the site to see the decontamination facility and the two above-ground plant room floors, and to hear about the challenges involved, from CFES Projects director, John Davies.
pass-through sterilisers for the inspection and packing cleanroom. Once again, extra capacity has been planned, with services and space provided for a further two autoclaves. For the endoscope
reprocessing unit, meanwhile, Getinge supplied and installed six ED-Flow endoscope washer-disinfectors (EWDs), giving the site the capacity to reprocess up to 12 large flexible endoscopes in a 23- minute full cycle. These machines also benefit from a quick and efficient loading process. Provision has been made for a further two EWDs if required, while seven drying cabinets complete the installation.
As reported in an article by the editor of HEJ’s sister title, The Clinical Services Journal, Louise Frampton, which appeared in the May 2020 HEJ, to create the decontamination supercentre – which has the capacity to reprocess 20 million instruments and 130,000 endoscopes annually – The Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust partnered with construction, FM, and engineering services provider, CFES, as principal contractor, and Getinge. The latter supplied and installed the decontamination and sterilisation equipment as a key sub- contractor within the CFES supply chain. This included seven of Getinge’s 86-series washer-disinfectors for the washroom. Services and space have been allocated for a further four, to allow the Trust to ramp up capacity, and there are two transfer hatches and ample space for operators, with 26 workstations available. A centralised dosing unit for liquid chemicals has also been installed to enhance staff safety and improve efficiency. Getinge has also installed six HS69 28 ft3
Washroom sorting benches and pass-through cabinet washer-disinfectors (load side).
CFES Projects director, John Davies.
Decontamination ‘intelligence’ With Getinge’s T-DOC software, the new facility has full traceability of instruments, endoscopes, pre-sterile, and non-sterile goods, ensuring both regulatory compliance and high levels of quality assurance and patient safety. Additionally, by ensuring that each important step in the reprocessing cycle is monitored and enforced, the software provides auditable and historical documentation. If – as planned – the supercentre takes on more third-party work, it will need clear visibility of turnaround times, information for fast tracking sets, and clear data on how the instruments and scopes have been reprocessed. The T-DOC software will
provide this, and if, for example, a customer needs to know about a key instrument set, staff will be able to identify exactly where it is in the cycle ‘in real time’. The instruments are scanned at various steps, so each stage of the process is monitored, allowing the Trust to gather useful information on productivity and efficiency.
While giving the Trust the capability to take on additional decontamination work from other Trusts was one of the main reasons for the supercentre’s construction, the key driver was that its existing ‘ageing, and in some cases, cramped’ decontamination facilities – at the Barnet, Chase Farm, and Royal Free Hospitals – were reaching the end of their life, and investment was needed to maintain a compliant service. The new facility’s general manager, Mark Sibbons, said: “The average washer-disinfector has a seven-year life expectancy, and an
August 2020 Health Estate Journal 43
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