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STERILE SERVICES
disinfectors in the department, but one had broken down, so we were using three machines all the time. We decided that we definitely needed three for the temporary facility. It was up to SSD to select the manufacturer. We also needed a dedicated sink for manual washing, a Class 8 cleanroom for instrument packing and a despatch area. “The initial plan was to have the
temporary unit for eight weeks. We extended this to three months when speaking to Garth, and eventually to the end of June, to allow for completion of the centralised endoscope reprocessing and sterile services facility. The temporary unit was installed and commissioning finalised towards the end of December 2018, going live in January 2019.”
The two portakabin buildings which the
temporary facility comprises were built to SSD’s specification, ready for the installation of the equipment once the two units were positioned onsite.
The location presented its own issues, with the portakabin buildings having to be carefully craned into position over a nearby bridge and precariously close to the second storey operating theatres. Everything was arranged in advance and all appropriate departments notified. The road was closed while the offloading and positioning was underway by the specialist team from Portakabin. The whole process was completed within two hours.
Once the units were in position the task of connecting them to the required services and fitting out with equipment could begin. One, smaller portakabin building is the plantroom, housing the reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment equipment. The second, larger unit is the production area, housing the washer-disinfectors, clean room and despatch area. Soby said: “The installation and commissioning went smoothly. The RO
With the new centralised sterile services and endoscope reprocessing department now operational, the temporary sterile services unit has been decommissioned.
equipment is a duplex system, which Garth subcontracted to Envirogen. The washer- disinfectors Garth chose are DEKO D32 Excels supplied by Dekomed. The commissioning was by Audere Medical Services. “Garth was also on hand to ensure
everything went well. He arranged a deep clean of the facility, and the validation documents on the machines and the clean room. These were approved by the trust’s APD, Owen Margetts, our AE(D), Mark Walker, and myself. “After everyone had been trained, we began reprocessing instruments in the temporary unit in the second week of January. We were originally looking at having a larger production unit, but space and budget restricted us. Due to the compact size of the facility and the limited number of staff who can work in it at only one time, we started a night shift immediately to cope with the demand.”
Meeting increased workload
Soby explained: “We’ve 16 theatres on site and service a large number of outside clinics and GP surgeries. It’s a credit to the staff that we’ve been able to meet the increasing workload even in these relatively confined conditions. “Our workload has increased, even during this difficult period. Working in the temporary unit, in January we processed 14,799 trays, in February 16,163, March 16,744, in May 17,597, and that’s only part of the production. When we include the offsite work, in May we processed a total of 24,297 trays.
“There’s a plus point with the number of trays that each of the three DEKO washer- disinfectors can accommodate in each cycle.” Soby added: “Garth’s always here if there is an issue. He responds straight away. It’s a great plus point. Even when he was on holiday in Spain, he responded immediately to a query I’d raised.” David Lockyer noted: “So far we haven’t had much downtime. Maintenance gets full marks. We’ve had only one delay and one cancellation since the temporary unit went live in January. The maximum has been six hours only, on one machine. “After the cancellation, staff from the theatre involved came here - the theatre lead, a surgeon and the scrub team. They didn’t know we were working from a ‘shed’. They were impressed we had been able to keep working as well as we have. We didn’t know we were out of the department. Theatres are helping by sending daily lists, so we know what they need and prioritise.” David asserted: “Comments we’ve had about the temporary unit include: ‘We thought it was a café’. Some theatre staff had an understanding of the refurbishment programme, but they have had so few issues they didn’t know what we were going through. “The temporary unit is tight, but we’ve proved it’s doable. It’s a big compliment to SSD and the staff here, who have been incredible. It shows how well the staff have worked in tight conditions.” Beverley Parmenter, the Trust’s quality manager - decontamination, added: “We’ve
Craning the portakabin buildings into position prior to equipment installation SEPTEMBER 2019
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