INFECTION CONTROL
Bioquell said: “For a thorough decontamination, hospitals are increasingly adopting Hydrogen Peroxide Vapour technology, which offers the same high level of contamination control as found in pharmaceutical cleanrooms.”
John Chewins
Designed for cleanliness Keeping infections down requires more than just the latest cleaning technologies; items and environments in hospitals need to be designed for ease of cleaning, and, most importantly, there needs to be a change in behaviour – ‘contamination awareness’ is everyone’s responsibility. Fortunately, new technologies, such as hand hygiene compliance measurement technologies, can help drive change. It is no exaggeration to say that how
we think about cleanliness has been transformed by COVID-19; how we apply that knowledge in critical environments, such as hospitals, can make a real
difference. The positive response to the pandemic has shown beyond doubt that the world is now better prepared to deal with future health crises than ever before. In a globally-interconnected world, these insights are going to be invaluable – cleaning and disinfection technologies will doubtless form part of the frontline defence against any future virus outbreak.
Partnerships’ importance Ensuring the best outcomes requires partnerships with hygiene technology specialists that have both the tools and knowledge to achieve the desired levels of cleanliness when and where they’re
John Chewins is an expert in the application and use of peroxygen- based automated airborne disinfection systems. He is director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Bioquell UK, and has worked for the business for over 19 years. He is also deputy chairman of the British Standard Institute’s (BSI) CH 216 Disinfectants and Antiseptics Standards Writing Committee, as well as Chairman of the BSI UV Automated Disinfection Standard Writing Committee. He is a member of ISO/TC 198 (Sterilization of healthcare products), and actively participates in working groups, including on aseptic processing, biological indicators, and chemical indicators. He is a specialist in the application of the European Biocidal Products Regulation to automated airborne disinfection systems.
needed. When success is measured in lives saved, there is no room for compromises.
St Thomas’ trial for decontamination technology
Just prior to the pandemic, Bioquell was offered the opportunity to trial its latest automated room decontamination technology at one of the UK’s leading hospitals. London’s St Thomas’ Hospital – one of Britain’s busiest hospitals, which takes in patients from all over the world, trialled the Bioquell ProteQ during a nine-month pilot study. The system performed more than 460 faultless room decontaminations, and at one point was used non-stop over a 72-hour period (without any alarms or issues, which is a testament to its reliability in a healthcare setting) to help combat an outbreak in the ICU. The hospital was already using the smaller Bioquell BQ-50, which is less suitable for larger open spaces. As it was not possible to empty the ward of patients, the outbreak
74 Health Estate Journal June 2022
management strategy involved a room- by-room approach. The Bioquell ProteQ, which can handle spaces up to 400 m3
,
delivered 6-log decontamination in patient rooms, as well as larger critical areas such as operating theatres. It was predominantly used to decontaminate hospital rooms following the discharge of patients with a confirmed case of a communicable disease; particularly those that showed antibiotic resistance, such as Carbapenemase Producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE). Offering major cost benefits, and new features such as wireless connectivity and electronic data capture, Bioquell ProteQ enabled the hospital to return beds to full use rapidly.
“The Bioquell ProteQ was a great addition to our existing BQ-50s to help manage infection control in the hospital,”
said Glawdys Chukukere, HPV and Rapid Response manager at St Thomas’ Housekeeping Service. “As it can treat much larger areas than our Bioquell BQ-50 machines, it also gave the added benefit of allowing us to decontaminate larger open areas on the ICU, as well as side rooms.” The feedback from the Trust was overwhelmingly positive. Operators commented that the machine was light and easy to manoeuvre around the hospital. They also liked the fact that the control lectern was wide enough to block the door to the room being decontaminated, which acted as a barrier to prevent entry during the cleaning cycle. Having password protection on the control lectern also meant that cycles could only be started by trained operators, further promoting the safety of the system.
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