SPONSORED BY HEALTH SECTOR NEWS Coronavirus crisis sees production capacity up
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting increase in demand for its nurse call systems, Static Systems Group (SSG), has boosted production capacity at its manufacturing base near Wolverhampton, and invested in the rapid development of an off-the-shelf ‘wired’ nurse call solution. It has ‘completely overhauled and optimised’ its operations and
manufacturing processes, and opened up additional manufacturing space to accommodate an extra production line for its wireless nurse call solution, for which it has seen ‘a ten-fold increase’ in demand. It has also adapted its working patterns, with extra factory shifts so it can operate
seven days a week, enabling it to work with many hospitals ‘to meet what would ordinarily seem like impossible delivery timescales’.
The development of a new, rapid-to- install, ‘wired’ nurse call system, Ultima Lite, ‘comes as a direct response to help support NHS Trusts quickly expanding their care facilities to treat COVID-19 patients’. The full-IP and open protocol nurse call solution comes supplied as a complete system in a box, and serves up to 30 patient beds. Ultima Lite uses industry-standard IP LAN networks, with power and data delivered along a single point-to-point cable. This ‘makes it ideal both for the rapid deployment of
standalone applications, and as an extension to an existing nurse call installation, where the reliability of a wired system with standard nurse call functionality is required in a hurry’.
‘Revolutionary’ active filter system ‘destroys’ coronavirus and filtration equipment such as that
A new carbon-based material able to ‘capture and destroy’ coronavirus has been developed, the project having been driven by UK based Q-Flo, and Israeli company, Tortech Nano Fibers, with input from the University of Cambridge’s Departments of Engineering, Materials Science, and Pathology.
‘Unlike PPE’, TorStran is ‘designed to mitigate the risk for everyone’, by reducing contamination levels in critical areas and spaces, and can be used in emergency vehicles such as ambulances, in hospital waiting areas and wards, on public transport, ‘and in many other areas’. The developers explain that the technology can be incorporated into existing filter or air-conditioning systems,
already used for PPE. They say: “It provides a solution to keep the air virus- free. Tests have proven that the technology works, and is ready to be launched with potential partners across the UK.”
A team comprising leading scientists and engineers from Cambridge and Israel
have collaborated over the past few weeks and created the TorStran Active Virus Filter system in the form of a thin mat ‘with the correct filtration and permeability properties to allow it to capture virus molecules contained in airborne aerosolised droplets’. They add: “The filter completely disrupts the virus molecules, rendering them safe and inert. Both filtration and disruption take place simultaneously, allowing the filter to reduce infection risk by removing contamination from the air. The active filter can be self-cleaning and reused many times. We envisage it being particularly useful in confined situations such as emergency vehicles, waiting areas, and wards.”
June 2020 Health Estate Journal 15
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