SPONSORED BY HEALTH SECTOR NEWS


Innovative nurse call system for Berkshire hospice


Thames Hospice’s new-build £22 million hospice, located on an eight-acre site by Bray Lake in Maidenhead, features a specially adapted Austco nurse call system that allows patients to call for a nurse via an Amazon Echo (‘Alexa’) system, rather than having to press a button.


Initially the company’s


standard nurse call system was installed as part of the construction of the hospice, which opened in October 2020. However, following a visit to Austco’s demonstration facility, staff saw an innovation they believed was a ‘must have’ for their patients. Austco explained: “Our engineers integrated our Tacera solution with the Amazon Echo system to allow patients to call for a nurse. The usual buttons / handsets etc are still there, but the convenience – particularly for patients that may not have the strength to press a button – enables nurses to be alerted should the patient need them. All the patients have to do is call out ‘Alexa, help’, and a call for that room is raised on the nurse call system. The entertainment system interprets the command, and, when recognised, sends a signal to the nurse call system. The two systems work together so the source of the command can be translated into an alarm from the correct room. The call appears on the system as if the patient had pressed the call button. On entering the room, the nurse presses the ‘presence’ button, and can cancel the alarm from there. Patients also get the usual entertainment options


the system offers in their room.” Austco added: “When our engineers


visited the hospice, clinical staff explained that sometimes, when helping a patient, for example in a bathroom, they couldn’t always see the origin of a second call just raised. We addressed this by incorporating our mobile solution, Pulse Mobile (‘a native smartphone app that lets nurses manage alarms, and remote control the nurse call system, all from their personal smartphone’).” At the request of the hospice’s staff, the engineers subsequently also configured the connection of bed mats to the nurse call system. “Finally,” explained the nurse call and clinical communications solutions specialist, “there was a requirement during the pandemic to incorporate a COVID call onto the system in areas where the infection was present. With the system software-based, we were able to programme a new call type to allow for this. All of this clearly highlights the benefits of a modular system to which additional features can be added, as required, over time.”


Letter to the Editor


Dr Scott Brown is correct in asking, as per his article in the January 2022 HEJ, ‘Is a review of MGPS guidance now overdue?’ It is, and the Department of Health & Social Care is addressing this, including the points he raises. In the case of oxygen, despite press coverage, there was never a problem with supply (the companies involved did sterling work); the problem stemmed from the inability of the oxygen pipeline distribution systems to supply sufficient gas flow for CPAP ventilation and the number of machines required; the algorithms devised for the design pipelines had not anticipated COVID-19.


With regard to surgical plume, the British Standard Committee, CH/121/06 Medical gas supply systems, is involved with an ISO working group where this is on the agenda. (That a medical gas/equipment group has taken up this subject when it is essentially a ventilation matter is odd, but committees are subject to ‘mission creep’. The case of anaesthetic gas scavenging, which is also a local exhaust system, is different, in that it has to interface with a breathing circuit, but that is a different story…). In the early 1980s the company, Medical Gas Installations, did develop an exhaust system, but the development did not progress. The suggestion that veterinary medical gases might be included is not perhaps likely to gain much traction.


Mike Arrowsmith


Technical Editor, Health Estate Journal, BSc (Hons), CEng, FIMechE, FIHEEM


NAADUK (the National Association of Air Duct Specialists), says its new ‘comprehensive guidance document’, NAAD21, ‘sets the standard for the ventilation hygiene sector’.


NAADUK guidance ‘sets standard’ for ventilation hygiene sector is a qualification previously


unavailable within the industry.”


It explains that NAAD21 is the result of ‘a collaboration between experts in our industry and other associations in putting together an easy-to-read reference document for both Grease and Air (Indoor Air Quality)’. It added: “It is embedded throughout the GT0F 04 SCQF Level 5 (NVQ2): Ventilation Hygiene Certificate, and forms the qualification’s core, covering the practices and procedures of the BSEHV11, the National Occupational Standard for cleaning industrial and commercial ventilation systems. This


12 Health Estate Journal March 2022


NAADUK Chair, Jonathan Brennan, said: “I would like to thank both the members of NAADUK who have put this document together, and the other associations, institutions, and universities that have supplied time, knowledge, and expertise to support and enhance this guidance. NAADUK hopes the guidance will not only help ductwork technicians, but also insurers, procurement departments, specifiers, and trainers, in delivering safety and compliance, and assuring competence within our industry. Following the Grenfell


tragedy, it is important to this association that this advice is made freely available to all.”


Peter Reid, NAADUK’s President, says he is ‘extremely proud of the Association’s members for putting together a world- leading guidance document in air-conditioning, already recognised in other countries worldwide, and


directly compliant with the Dame Hackett review for technical information to be freely available’.


The 134-page document is available free to all interested parties. For a copy, email admin@naaduk.co.uk.


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