COVE R S TORY
Pushing boundaries in infection prevention
In March this year, Cantel (UK) reached a significant milestone in supporting endoscopy units across the UK. The company celebrated the installation of its 500th RAPIDAERTM
machine in the UK, now in place at Scarborough Hospital’s endoscopy decontamination unit. It marks a seven year journey of pushing boundaries in infection prevention at Cantel.
With infection prevention more important than ever, especially given the onset of COVID-19, Cantel continues to develop and finetune its solutions, such as the RAPIDAERTM Reprocessor, to ensure it supports the growing demands placed upon endoscopy units. Each year, approximately 300,000 patients develop a healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) while in NHS care, which is projected to cost the health service a staggering £1billion annually.1
Cantel focuses on ensuring its customers can access a complete circle of protection, helping them to reduce risk and streamline operational efficiencies so patients can benefit from the highest standards of care. Within endoscopy, an effective end-to-end decontamination process is viewed as a key strategy to reduce HCAIs. In 2019, the ‘mishandling’ of flexible endoscopes after disinfection, leading to patient infections, sat at the number five spot on the ECRI Institute’s ‘Top 10 Health Technology Hazards’ (ECRI Institute, 2019).2
Similarly, in 2020, the
Institute listed ‘infection risks from sterile processing roll-out errors in medical and
dental offices’ at number three, specifying the risk associated with cleaning, disinfecting, storing and transporting endoscopes (ECRI Institute, 2020).3
It is clear that a thorough
decontamination process, from cleaning and reprocessing to minimising cross- contamination risks, is more vital than ever.
History behind RAPIDAER Reprocessor
A commitment to reducing endoscopy infection burdens drove Cantel to develop the RAPIDAER Reprocessor back in 2014. Installations began in 2015, with Ipswich Hospital one of the first to introduce the solution. Cantel has worked closely with the hospital ever since to ensure its endoscopy unit benefits from the latest in RAPIDAER Reprocessor technology after being a pioneer of it six years ago. Over the years, the RAPIDAER
Reprocessor has been updated and improved upon using the latest in modular construction methods to produce one of the fastest and smallest pass-through washer disinfectors on the market. The machine has gone through continual refinement since its initial iteration, with the aim to offer a highly reliable, productive and flexible solution that can suit all sizes of endoscopy departments. The 500th milestone in the UK
demonstrates the confidence units across the country continue to place in Cantel and its solutions. Since installations began in the UK, the high-tech decontamination machinery has been introduced to 123 sites across the UK, with a further 50 units installed across Europe and more planned later this year.
Setting the standard With the capacity to complete three cycles per hour, Cantel estimates that approximately 3,000 endoscopes are processed through
52 l
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM APRIL 20 2 1 THE CLINICAL SERVICES JOURNAL
DECONTAMINATION & STERILISATION
Automated Endoscope Reprocessor
Impact of COVID-19
on sterile services Increasing sensitivity of protein detection Meeting demand for extra capacity
WWW.CL INIC AL S ERVICE S
JOURNAL.COM
the RAPIDAER Reprocessor system each year – meaning that it has cleaned over 4 million endoscopes in its history. Cantel believes that its technology has had an incredible impact within endoscopy and decontamination, and consistent with its aim to continue to push boundaries in scope reprocessing, Cantel is planning a new iteration of the machine for launch in 2021. RAPIDAER Reprocessor’s single chamber modular design and proven standard components ensure reliability and flexibility for any unit, while its inbuilt RFID technology provides security by offering complete track and traceability of all processed endoscopes. It provides the option to externally load endoscopes so that no time is lost between cycles. Keith Hopewell, senior director for service EMEA at Cantel, commented: “Cantel is
APRIL 2021
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 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88
