Fulton has supplied a skid-mounted, dual-fuel-fired steam boiler package to Southmead Hospital as part of North Bristol NHS Trust’s £430 million PFI redevelopment of the site (HEJ – May 2014).
Steam from the ‘package’, featuring two Fulton 60J boilers plus ancillaries, is used during washing and sterilisation of surgical equipment and instruments at the hospital’s temporary central sterile services department (CSSD).
Commenting for Hulley Kirkwood – the consulting engineers responsible for the CSSD, and for specifiying the Fulton system – Richard Boocock said: “Steam is fundamental to the CSSD, and we needed a system that could raise sufficient amounts in a relatively short period. Fulton boilers are renowned for this, and are made in Britain, right on the doorstep of Southmead Hospital. Fulton can thus offer immediate back-up for servicing requirements or maintenance issues.”
The washing process at the new CSSD involves rinsing used surgical equipment in cold water before washing in hot water, with steam from the Fulton boilers generated to indirectly heat water to around 80° C. Once the instruments are washed and re-packaged, raw steam (at approximately 180 ° C) is used to heat the water source of the CSSD’s clean steam generator, steam from which is then supplied to the sterilisers at a sufficiently high temperature to kill any remaining pathogens, microbes, and bacteria.
Fulton’s boilers were also specified because its 60J vertical steam boilers feature a large reservoir of water at super-heated temperatures. In the event of sudden demand, the boiler can thus ‘flash off’ a considerable amount of steam.
