DRAINAGE
Unlike traditional drainage systems that rely on gravity and pipe slope to move fluids around the system, vacuum systems create a pressure difference that enhances efficiency and allows for greater flexibility in pipework location and route design.
The preceding brief system description is intended to give a basic overview of the various components that comprise a typical vacuum system. These can be arranged in numerous ways; the description is not intended to provide a comprehensive commentary, as this is much better delivered on a project by project basis where the significance of each element can be assessed rather than adherence to a rigid design guide regardless of circumstances.
Conclusion The one indisputable fact is that bacteria will continue to become more resistant and hospital related infections will remain a major challenge. The route forward is not trying to fix everything at once, but to break down the science versus construction silo mentality that historically has prevailed, looking to a more wholistic pragmatic collaborative approach involving clinical, manufacturer and construction expertise as a single tool in the fight against infection spread within healthcare environments – using data to both record and review both real time and projected outcomes, producing risk-based learnings which embed patient safety in the very fabric of all healthcare settings as a first principle. Currently, this is not the situation; partially due
to the majority of the construction expertise being deployed in healthcare settings being derived from the commercial sector where construction capital cost is the primary driver, infection control does not feature as a
consideration. This can be evidenced by doing a simple word search on any commercial project using the search criteria ‘infection control’ – which will likely result in a zero hits result. Now try the same with medical studies of recent hospital-related infection outbreaks; the difference is like night and day. The answer must start by supporting the formation of
truly multidisciplinary design groups at RIBA stage 1 and 2, empowering the group with a wide remit to deliver project specific infection control mitigation within the general NHP envelope; this then sets the tone for the project priorities going forward. The objective of this article is not to instruct or guide people on how to meet the challenge of designing healthcare drainage facilities – it is to propose a robust structure to minimise possible infection spread via the most basic of facilities – drainage – by offering a personal view on the necessity of developing a ‘thought template of curiosity and challenge’ to remove the barriers and perception that drainage cannot be rejuvenated and aligned with the principles of the NHP. Clearly, vacuum drainage is not a one-size-fits-all solution; however, the future is clear: to move forward in the backwater of healthcare building drainage design, the much used capital build cost metric is not fit for purpose and a more nuanced cost model is required to identify best value, otherwise multi million pound infection control incidents will continue to occur in new build healthcare premises without resulting in the requisite learnings to inform and modify future projects.
Kris Wojcik
Kris Wojcik CEng, FCIPHE, MCIBSE, ASoPHE has over two decades of mainstream building services (sanitation and domestic water) design experience ranging from concept to final completion with a Nordic based consultancy over many different building types mainly in the UK, culminating with utilising vacuum technology as part of a design team delivering a Sterling prize award winning building in the City of London.
October 2026 Health Estate Journal 83
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