OPERATING THEATRES
available budget. We’re all about removing the mystique and making digital integration more accessible. A key benefit is the ability for a Trust or private healthcare provider to select a variety of equipment for use in different theatres and surgeries at a much reduced cost.” One recent project had seen Howorth fit out two renal theatres used for kidney transplants at St George’s Hospital in Tooting with Exflow Evolution UCV canopies, complemented by a digital integration system, which effectively fully ‘connects’ the two adjacent theatres. The equipment ‘package’ included canopies, pendants, operating theatre lights, theatre control panels with integrated PACS systems, and wall and pendant-mounted monitors, plus the associated hardware and software to control and integrate it all. Tom Ford said: “The set-up allows surgeons, for instance, to simultaneously remove a damaged kidney in one theatre, and harvest one from a healthy patient in the adjacent one, with the UCV canopies and theatre configuration designed to minimise cross-contamination risks.
Audio and video streaming “The surgeons can also stream audio and video through the hospital’s IP network for teaching. Two other UCV theatres we have supplied on the St George’s Hospital site also incorporate digital integration, so surgeons can use the PACS systems or write up reports remotely. It’s all about flexibility. While our ultraclean canopies are primarily designed for orthopaedic surgery, they are now widely used for other procedures. In one recent project, where we installed Exflow Evolutions in an ophthalmic theatre, surgeons told us they believed the concentrated airflow would dry out the wound site. In fact the hospital’s Estates team had turned off the theatre’s humidity control several years earlier, so a dry atmosphere would more likely have been attributable to that. When undertaking more delicate surgery, you can, in any event, simply reduce the speed of the canopy’s fans.” Tom Ford said another benefit of Howorth’s digital integration service was that the required hardware, software, and ‘connections’ are fitted early in the construction scheme, in a ‘seamless’ installation.” He said: “There are, conversely, many digital installations out there that have been poorly retrofitted, using surface-mounted trunking, following the completion of a theatre refurbishment. With us – which both benefits infection control, and helps get theatres finished quicker – everything is integrated into the walls and pendants.”
Hill-Rom deal
Having briefly touched earlier on the theatre lighting offered by Howorth Air Technology, I asked Tom Ford how the
56 Health Estate Journal June 2018
The Genano nanoscale air purification system providing environmental infection control against airborne pathogens.
company concluded the UK distribution deal for Trumpf Medical lighting and pendants. “In 2014,” he explained, “Trumpf Medical in the UK was acquired by America’s Hill-Rom. As part of the resulting reorganisation Hill-Rom reviewed the international distribution channels for Trumpf products right across the business.” In the UK, Trumpf Medical operating lights and pendants had previously been sold to customers by directly owned subsidiary, Trumpf Medical. “On acquiring Trumpf Medical, however,” Tom Ford explained, “Hill-Rom decided that with our highly extremely experienced sales, service, and maintenance teams, turnkey project expertise, and many years’ experience installing theatre equipment, Howorth would make an excellent UK distributor of Trumpf Medical theatre lighting and pendants.”
Engineers ‘out on the road’ He added: “Howorth has 18 engineers on the road throughout the UK and overseas, so we not only offer the sales capability, but also the project management and service and maintenance capabilities. As a partner for Trumpf Medical, we had a ready-made infrastructure. Howorth integrated Trumpf Medical’s existing service business, and has increased that business’s annual turnover to over £1 m. The tie-up with Trumpf has also allowed us to win work we would not previously have had access to, such as a recent project to supply all the ITU pendants – from Trumpf Medical – to a new 10-bedded ICU at London’s Evelina Children’s Hospital. With theatre lighting, surgeon’s control panels, canopies, and pendants, plus the digital integration, we can offer a comprehensive integrated package for operating theatre projects, including supplying third-party lighting, for example.” Talking of lighting, I asked about any particularly notable developments in the
theatre lighting that Howorth offers. Tom Ford said: “Trumpf Medical was the pioneer of LED theatre lighting back in 2007 with its iLEd 3 and iLEd 5; the company was the first to launch high quality LED operating theatre lights. Aside from the longevity of the iLED lights, they operate at a lower temperature, which not only makes for a more comfortable theatre environment, but also doesn’t affect the buoyancy of the air in the ‘clean zone’, which aids the real-time performance of the ultraclean system.”
LED theatre lighting
Tom Ford explained that the latest iteration of Trumpf Medical’s operating theatre lights, the iLED 7, had been on the market for about 18 months. He said: “This product is both wirelessly controlled and offers wireless video technology via a camera that users can literally bolt on the light. A fully self-contained operating light with excellent shadow management, it offers a 160,000 lux output. The high lux output and excellent colour rendition are a major boon for surgeons, particularly in, for example, distinguishing healthy and diseased tissue, while the LED light packs’ low running costs make the iLED 7 one of the most economical such products whole-life cost-wise. The optional wireless camera simply bolts onto a module on the light itself; it can thus be purchased separately at any time.
‘Bolt-on’ HD camera
“The HD camera,” he continued, “fits onto the centre of the operating light. The Trumpf-supplied cameras are extremely high quality, and can be moved easily from location to location.” Moving to discuss the Trumpf Medical pendants Howorth now markets in the UK, Tom Ford said: “I believe the TruPort pendants – with a unique modular design – are among the market’s best. While the surgical team still sets out where they
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