VENTILATION
This image demonstrates the criticality of ventilation grille/diffuser positioning in relation to the patient, and the benefits of providing a clean air flow path. Produced for a birthing suite, it shows how correctly positioned low level extract ventilation reduces the spread of a person exhaling anaesthetic gases. The same principles apply to other airborne contaminants exhaled from a patient.
now they are seen as vital tool for increasing capacity within healthcare facilities. An updated version of HTM 03-01 due for publication early in 2021 has received specialist input to address the latest thinking on clean-air requirements in patient accommodation. Ventilation systems are complex solutions, and their impact depends on the type of technology and, critically, how it is deployed.
New research on risks faced by healthcare workers
The risks faced by healthcare workers treating patients with viruses that can be transmitted through the air are highlighted by new research published in August 2020 by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Researchers from University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust in the UK, and Turku University of Applied Sciences in Finland, examined these risks, and how different forms of ventilation can protect staff who are treating patients in hospital isolation rooms. The study, called ‘Reducing aerosol infection risk in hospital patient care’, was commissioned by IOSH because while the risks to frontline healthcare workers when caring for patients with viruses are well known, less known is the optimal design of
Make Yo
mechanical ventilation systems. The aim was to see how an engineering control approach of optimising ventilation methods can reduce these risks. Dr Julian Tang, a consultant virologist at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, and an honorary associate professor at the University of Leicester,
says: “The most effective form of control is the ventilation engineering level of control. That means that we have to try and improve the amount of clean air in the environment compared with the amount of contaminated air. The research has shown that there are certain types of ventilation – beyond just different speed and volume of ventilation – that can benefit healthcare workers more without being detrimental to the patient. This report has looked to highlight those particular designs to show that if you are going to build a new hospital with new isolation rooms, these sorts of design are what you might want to follow.”
Clean-air pathways considered in modular building design As the managing director at a medical modular building specialist, I welcome the report. The IOSH report focuses particularly on treating patients in isolation rooms, which are typically provided with a minimum of 10 air changes per hour of mechanical ventilation. It underlines the importance of mechanical ventilation in reducing airborne aerosol infection. At MTX we recognise the importance of
MTX provided a standalone single-storey Endoscopy Decontamination Unit to Colchester General Hospital, including segregated ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ areas, and the decontamination rooms.
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k.co.uk February 2021 Health Estate Journal 47
©David Guilfoyle, DSSR
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