OPERATING THEATRES


want their gases, electrics, and other connections, at planning stage, the services connections on the TruPorts are on removable aluminium tiles on each console. Once the pendants are in situ, we can thus add or subtract services, and re- position the gas, electric, or data socket, simply by removing a cover strip, taking out a tile, and moving it to another face. On a recent job at the London Clinic’s new ITU, the unit’s manager wanted the medical gases on one side of a pendant, and electrics on the other. We were able to move the services around to meet this requirement after handing over the facility – a major benefit to him, because with other manufacturers’ pendants, once the drawing is signed off you are stuck with the configuration.”


Biodecontamination


I asked Tom Ford about any other interesting developments currently ongoing for Howorth. He said: “One particularly innovative product, for use in both operating theatres and, say, bedrooms or isolation units, is our BioGen VHP-U (Vaporised Hydrogen Peroxide Ultrasonication) decontamination system.” He explained that the latest iteration, BioGen DUO, is a fully self- contained mobile decontamination system which disperses VHP-U, and then de-gases via an associated de-aeration unit. A ‘typical’ bedroom can be decontaminated within 2-3 hours. Tom Ford added that Howorth’s sister company, Protak Scientific, had further developed an associated product – an Enzyme Indicator, based on an original Public Health England system, which is now available for sale worldwide. He explained how the ‘EI’ – which Protak dubs ‘an industry-changing advance in measuring decontamination performance’ – works: “Put a ‘traditional’ biological indicator into a room or operating theatre to verify that it has been decontaminated effectively, and it will typically take 5-7


VR to aid surgery


The BioGen DUO is a fully self-contained mobile decontamination system which disperses DVHP, and then de-gases via an associated unit.


days to get a measurable result, whereas a Protak Enzyme Indicator gives you an instantaneous result.”


Plastic carriers easily positioned The Protak EI devices are on a plastic carrier, about the size of a plastic pen, and, for effective measurement of the entire space, are placed in a number of high and low-level locations around a room. Tom Ford said: “You then introduce the VHP-U, which gives a log 6 kill, take the enzyme indicator, and release it into a digital reader, which gives you a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’. The process provides an instantaneous audit trail of bacteriological levels, for example in a room that an MRSA or TB patient has just been accommodated in.


“The biodecontamination unit is entirely portable, and is now used in theatres,


Howorth partner, Sony Healthcare, is working with the Innovation Lab at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital on a Virtual Reality program that will enable surgeons to ‘practice’ a procedure using ‘VR’ before undertaking the operation, and would also facilitate surgical training.


As our discussions closed, I asked about any other major innovations in hand or in prospect. Tom Ford said: “Tied in with the BioGen is a ‘nanoscale’ air purification product we will be distributing from Finnish company, Genano, which filters out airborne particulates down to a very low level, and can pick up not only bacteria, but also fungi spores and viruses. The air purifier can be wheeled into a theatre or other room, and the system quickly connected to a supply and extract system to convert the room into an isolation room. A key advantage is the ability to create positive or negative pressure rooms very quickly via this very efficient self-contained unit – for which we have just signed up as exclusive UK distributor.


“Over the past five years,” Tom Ford added, “we have been working hard to assemble a comprehensive stable of theatre equipment, combined with digital integration capabilities, to enable us to meet most theatre and ITU needs. We now have a strong all-round offering for such medical environments, but will continue to innovate and develop new products via our in-house R&D team and strong industry contacts, coupled with our first-class reputation as a turnkey contractor. We plan to strongly build upon this as surgical demands continue to broaden with the advent of new technologies and thinking, as well as advances in surgical techniques.”


Howorth explains that the Protak enzyme indicators ‘operate in the same way as biological indicators, and give the same quality of results, but do not require an incubation time’.


Acknowledgment HEJ would like to thank Paul Hughes of The John Charnley Trust for his help and input with his article.


June 2018 Health Estate Journal 57


hospital bedrooms, and, for instance, ICUs. We have manufactured the BioGen units for about four years here in Bolton, while the enzyme indicators are produced for us in Cambridge. We believe they are a game-changer, not just for healthcare applications, but equally, for instance, for use in pharma manufacturing facilities, biopharma facilities, and laboratories. We are now seeing the EIs used more and more in operating theatres as an alternative to biological indicators. A big part of the business case is NHS Improvement currently saying to hospitals: ‘Find innovative ways of saving time’. Our digital integration piece also addresses this, taking paper out of the equation, The ‘PlayStation generation’ is also well used to working with tablets and other mobile digital devices.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68