ENDOSCOP E R E P ROCES S ING
scopes, with residual liquid not completely removed even five days later.6
The British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) recommend that endoscopy units deploy purpose-built drying/storage cabinets, which use compressed HEPA filtered air (highly efficient particulate filtered air) to dry scopes.7
Increasingly, Trusts are opting for systems that package endoscopes post- drying, ready for storage and transport, though these often still require staff to oversee air drying. Recognising this, Cantel sought to design a storage system that would negate the need for time-consuming manual drying, developing the Surestore Endoscope Storage and Transportation unit. It is a self-contained unit that uses long-term ‘active’ aseptic storage and transportation of endoscopes, including GI and theatre-based scopes, for up to 100 days. From start to finish, it takes up to eight minutes to condition and process a scope. Endoscopes are conditioned and packaged using the Surestore Storage System directly after they have been unloaded from an endoscope washer disinfector. The equipment is now in place in over 150 hospitals. Independently tested by Biotech Germande on multiple endoscope brands, including Fujifilm, Olympus and Pentax, it is estimated that over 240,000 scopes are conditioned using the system every year.
Case study: Eastbourne District General Hospital
When its endoscopy procedure numbers began to increase, Eastbourne District General Hospital (Eastbourne DGH, part of East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust) faced a problem – it was running out of room in its Hospital Sterilisation and Decontamination Unit (HSDU) for endoscope storage cabinets. Though the hospital had four cabinets, it
needed at least five cabinets to meet growing demand. Like many others, the Trust was also losing money and increasing scope downtime by having to re-wash any scopes that were not used within the three-hour guideline. Eastbourne DGH had no choice but to investigate other solutions to solve these problems; firstly, a way to store more clean endoscopes within their space constraints while still complying with guidelines; and secondly, a validated storage solution that was able to store clean endoscopes for more than three hours. After conducting research, the Trust identified that the Surestore Storage System would not only benefit its HSDU and endoscopy department, but its theatres too. It would enable scopes to be easily prepared in advance for emergency situations, out of hours and weekend endoscopy work. It also saw an additional benefit for its ERCP scopes – Eastbourne DGH and Conquest Hospital, another hospital within the Trust, were sharing three duodenoscopes. By introducing the storage system, Eastbourne DGH could wash the scopes after ERCP procedures on a Monday,
then condition, package and transport the scopes to Conquest Hospital, for its ERCP procedures later in the week. David Pierce, decontamination supervisor at Conquest Hospital, saw clear advantages: “Theatres and on-call staff would normally have to be trained on how to retrieve scopes from cabinets, but with the storage system, the endoscope is packaged and ready to grab and go.” With ever increasing procedure numbers, the installation couldn’t have come any sooner for both hospitals. Pierce continued: “We are saving on downtime for scopes, manual handling of scopes and cost on chemistry, as you don’t have to keep re- washing scopes. There are some competitor products where the scope has to be dried before being vacuum-packed, but with the Surestore Storage System, scopes can be packaged straight out of the washer.” Sometime after the installation at Eastbourne DGH, the hospital experienced issues with the power supply to its endoscope storage cabinets resulting in the cabinets being out of action for 3-4 days. Having the Surestore Storage System meant that the team didn’t have to keep re-washing scopes every three hours or cancel any endoscopy procedures. Karen Garner, decontamination supervisor at Eastbourne DGH, explained: “Without the storage system available, we would have been in big trouble when our cabinets were down.”
The units East Sussex Healthcare NHS
Trust purchased did not just benefit the Trust, as Eastbourne DGH has been able to take on extra workload for other local hospitals. When a hospital nearby had issues with its endoscope washer disinfectors, Eastbourne DGH was able to assist by washing and packaging these scopes using the storage system. Without this intervention, the nearby hospital would have had to cancel all endoscopy lists until washers were fixed; instead, with the storage system close-by at Eastbourne DGH, it was able to continue procedures with minimal disruption. Eastbourne DGH has also managed to lighten
40 l
WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM DECEMBER 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
