WATER SYSTEM HYGIENE & SAFETY TC Wall Ports can be easily fitted and
left in situ, and are supplied either ready wired or with wires available separately, in different lengths and thermocouple types, with PTFE or glass fibre insulation. Several ports can be mounted together in one location, allowing multiple measurements to be taken quickly and safely from one position. They are compatible with any thermocouple input thermometer, although for manual spot checks TME recommends its MM2000 instrument range, which features robust, high accuracy, waterproof thermometers, and a wide range of compatible temperature probes and sensors.
Fast response and greater accuracy A significant advantage of using fine wire sensors left permanently in place is their speed of response and enhanced accuracy. TC Wall Ports are ingeniously simple but effective. Each socket is quick and easy to install, and even easier to use. Plugging in your thermometer to get a measurement is as easy as charging your mobile phone, but better, because the results are instant. Another crucial advantage is the reduction in false negatives, as the fine wire sensor is attached directly to the pipework, producing far less heat loss with this kind of measurement.
Double TC Wall Ports are the most recent addition to TME’s Legionella Range. Maintaining the same miniaturisation, this ‘new style’ wall port features two thermocouple inputs instead of one, offering an ideal solution for hot and cold pipe monitoring, either in settings without TMVs, or when there is concern about the quality of the unblended water supply before the TMV is reached. These Double TC Wall Ports are supplied with integral wires, in a choice of lengths, depending on the setting.
The Guernsey strategy
Alongside a number of NHS Trusts and local authorities across the UK, the States of Guernsey has been an early adopters of the system. Having used TME’s Legionella temperature kits extensively since 2015, the island’s estates managers have been among the first healthcare personnel to understand the full potential of the TC Wall Port System, and how it can be adapted to meet some of their more difficult water safety challenges. TC Wall Ports have been installed on a number of the wards at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, specifically to help monitor subordinate loops, situated behind panels, which previously have required removal every time a temperature had to be taken. “We’ve been very impressed with the Wall Port System,” says Clive Martin. “Both the single and double wall ports, which we
48 Health Estate Journal October 2019
The TC Wall Port system.
use with TME’s Legionella thermometer kits and dual-purpose surface/immersion probes to monitor water temperatures across the estate, have drawn praise.” States of Guernsey Water Safety technician, Roger Le Tissier, explains how the system is being used for return loop monitoring in particular. “The size and spread-out nature of our site makes a supply-on-demand hot water system impractical. You would be waiting ages for the hot water to reach the outlets, so what we have instead is a hot supply and return system where hot water is kept constantly flowing around the loop. Our Water Safety Plan requires us to have a minimum temperature on both supply and return, which is so much easier with the TC Wall Ports, because we don’t have to remove the panels to get the results.”
Thermocouple data loggers For continuous 24-hour monitoring and temperature profiling, the ports are also compatible with thermocouple input data loggers supplied by TME. Guernsey’s healthcare estate managers are planning a trial of this solution, as a useful way to monitor room temperatures in wards, at both the Princess Elizabeth and the Mignot Memorial Hospital in Alderney. Improvements to Legionella risk management are being taken against a background of continuing improvement and modernisation of hospital services on Guernsey and Alderney, and especially the current States of Guernsey Hospital Modernisation programme scheduled for completion by 2025.
Legionellosis – a reminder Exposure to Legionella bacteria can result in outbreaks of legionellosis, a group of
potentially life-threatening respiratory conditions, contracted usually – but not only – through inhalation of fine water droplets, usually from showers or taps, or in other circumstances where an aerosol effect can be produced. The most serious of these is Legionnaires’ disease, but Pontiac and Lochgoilhead fevers are similar, though less serious, conditions.
HTM guidance
The Department of Health’s Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 04-01 (2016) states that the risk of healthcare- associated legionellosis depends on a number of factors, including: n Tepid water temperature; n Sources of nutrients for the bacteria; n Means of creating an aerosol, and n Presence of people with increased susceptibility.
The Memorandum concludes that ‘many, if not all, of these factors are likely to be encountered in healthcare premises’, citing the following conditions, which are usually present in hospital buildings: n Legionella bacteria multiply in water at temperatures of between 20°C and 45°C, especially where there is poor flow, stagnation, and low utilisation, which can lead to the build-up of nutrients like sludge, rust, and organic materials;
n Showers and splashback from taps are both very likely aerosol creators, and additionally there are other ‘less obvious’ examples, including the poor quality of water flowing back from TMVs, water droplets on hospital equipment and instruments, and the accidental aspiration of contaminated ingested water.
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