SPONSORED BY HEALTH SECTOR NEWS
More effective wastemanagement for pharmacies Independent healthcare waste
management company, Anenta, has been appointed by NHS England and NHS Improvement to oversee and manage the delivery of clinical waste logistics and disposal services to over 700 pharmacies across Hampshire, The Isle of Wight, and the Thames Valley. The appointment takes the number of pharmacies provided with Anenta’s waste management services in the South East region to over 1,500. Having saved the authority over £1.7 m over the past two years through the implementation of its online contract management platform ‘Vector’, Anenta will deploy its analytics and AI technology to identify waste service efficiencies and savings that can be made on behalf of the 700 ‘recently onboarded’ pharmacies. As part of the service, it will ensure that the NHS authority only pays for services used, and that services are correctly specified under future contracts. Aligned with this, it will identify opportunities for adjustments to waste services that could bring further savings through price negotiations with service- providers.
In all, the company will manage over 1,500 collections of waste generated by the 708 pharmacies, including clinical waste and medicine returns and disposal, and helping the pharmacies ‘with complex issues’ such as navigating ‘pre-acceptance’ audits required by the Environment Agency. Working with the EA, Anenta has already streamlined this process, saving pharmacies in the South East Region over 14,000 hours per year. The company also identifies if pharmacies are disposing of retail stock and sharps containers from enhanced services or patient returns correctly. If not, corrective advice and guidance are provided. This function alone has saved NHS England £1.2 million over 18 months.
‘Next generation, no-touch’ UV disinfection technology
As the UK begins to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, and with high touch surfaces a source of healthcare- associated infections caused by secondary transmission of bacteria and viruses directly through patient contact or indirectly through healthcare workers’ hands, Howorth says its UV-CLEAN technology, which utilises UV-C light, can eliminate 99 per vent of pathogens on such surfaces.
Flexible configurations allow units to sit above keyboards and screens and provide an automated and customisable cleaning cycle. The units are motion activated for safe deployment of UV-C light, and have a 60 cm cleaning area range. Howorth said: “Multiple studies have demonstrated how frequently touched surfaces can contain pathogens. A study in a medical ICU found colonisation rates were higher for keyboards in rooms with patients positive for MRSA, and another
found keyboards tested positive for the growth of two or more microorganisms. No touch decontamination technologies such as UV-C light can offer benefits for disinfecting high touch surfaces in healthcare environments, such as on in- room computer workstations, mobile workstations, and portable medical equipment. UV-C light inactivates microorganisms at the genetic level by damaging their DNA.”
First in a series of focused HEJ webinars
The first in a series of HEJ webinars to be held over the next few months, taking place in late July, will see Jason Cox, Energy Upgrades leader for the UK at Armstrong Fluid Technology (pictured), address the topic – ‘Balancing energy savings and HVAC system performance with patient comfort in hospital and care home facilities’.
The company explained: “Since the introduction of Streamline Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) in 2019, saving money and reducing carbon emissions is now an essential element for large organisations to report on. With the largest volume of energy in buildings consumed by heating, ventilation, and cooling systems, this seems the most appropriate place to start with a view to upgrading technology, both to improve performance, and achieve cost- efficiencies. That said, the prospect of replacing large items of mechanical equipment except when absolutely necessary can be daunting for many organisations. With a mission-critical facility such as a hospital or care home, how do you balance the need to upgrade HVAC systems to make energy and carbon savings, with the requirement to minimise disruption to clinical services?
“As a leading global player with a long heritage in HVAC equipment and systems, Armstrong Fluid Technology has specialist knowledge and core
12 Health Estate Journal July 2020
competences in heat transfer, fluid flow, demand-based control, and digitilisation. In this webinar, we will demonstrate how, using these capabilities, we can offer a unique approach to energy saving, and can provide help to hospitals and care homes with strategies that enable them to intelligently upgrade HVAC equipment to deliver optimised system performance, resulting in significant carbon and cost savings from day one, without impacting on services or patient comfort.” At the end of the presentation, there will be an opportunity for attendees to ask questions during a live ‘Q&A’ session. Further information on the webinar, including the date and time, will be communicated electronically, via social media, and on the HEJ website, at:
www.healthestatejournal.com
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