OXYGEN SUPPLY
MS therapy centre’s on-site oxygen generation upgrade
When the South Wales Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre in Swansea, a member of the national MSNTC charity, was looking to expand its oxygen therapy services to MS patients, plant room space limitations, and reliance on infrequent oxygen delivery schedules, presented major obstacles. Moving to larger premises, and installing an Atlas Copco on-site oxygen generation system for 24/7 availability, have resulted in increased therapy capacity, reduced running costs, and the potential for heat recovery energy savings, as Arron Farghaly, Business Development manager for Oxygen and Nitrogen Products in the UK, reports.
Oxygen therapy involves breathing pure oxygen in a hyperbaric chamber at 1.5 to 2 times normal atmospheric pressure. Additional oxygen can extend the body’s ability to heal, and can limit some of the damage which Multiple Sclerosis (MS) causes. In the inflammation that is typical of MS, the transport of oxygen is severely limited by fluid leakage from capillaries, causing tissue swelling around the attack site. When pure oxygen is breathed in under pressure, more of it is dissolved in the blood than would normally be the case. As a result, swelling around attack sites is reduced, and blood vessels constrict, preventing leakage, and allowing tissue which is not dead, but ‘sleeping’, to repair itself.
The aim of oxygen therapy in MS is to minimise the amount of damage being caused, promote rapid healing, and to limit the scar formation which blocks messages getting from the brain to the limbs, thus preventing nerve function being restored and causing disability.
Expanding the centre and its facilities
Having operated from the MS former therapy site in Winch Wen for some over 30 years, it became evident that to meet increased demand for its services, the facility would need more equipment and space to accommodate it. At the time, the centre was functioning with just one hyperbaric chamber, and an inadequate plant room storage capacity for oxygen supply of just 220 litres. If the therapy equipment was to be fully utilised, it needed to consume twice that volume of patients’ oxygen supply. Furthermore, the situation was aggravated by the oxygen supplier’s delivery schedule, which was limited to two-week intervals. Having secured a newly built, larger premises in Swansea’s Viking Way, Christine Jones, who manages the facility, now had the opportunity to add a second hyperbaric chamber, doubling the
The system installed at the newly built, larger South Wales Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre in Swansea’s Viking Way consists of an Atlas Copco GA 18VSD+FF full feature, rotary screw compressor with Elektronikon controller, plus ancillaries.
centre’s therapy capacity. Its full potential could, however, only be fulfilled with a substantial and continuous self-sufficient supply of oxygen. There followed an extensive programme of evaluating the oxygen supply options and sources used within the parent MSNTC charity membership circle of 60 therapy centres, as well as the leading oxygen generation systems suppliers, both at home and abroad.
The search included Atlas Copco’s manufacturing base in Belgium, and led to an invitation to Atlas Copco Compressors’ premier distributor in Wales, Control Gear, based in Pontypridd, to carry out an extensive review of the system requirement, and to recommend a cost- effective solution.
An easy decision
“It was a no-brainer”, explains Christine Jones. “When we took into account the supplier’s cost of transferring the bulk liquid oxygen vessel, installing a second unit, the price of the oxygen, and the ongoing rental charges, the total sum was equivalent to the one-off capital equipment and installation costs for an on-site, independent generation system that could provide us with unlimited oxygen 24/7, plus technical support. What’s more, there is scope for utilising a heat recovery system to save energy. As a charity, we have a duty to run the operation with a view to reduce costs – savings that can be passed on in the form of service to the users, the patients we treat”.
September 2021 Health Estate Journal 77
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