Bender UK has provided the IPS and UPS critical power network and supplied and installed touchscreen control panels, and Steris LED theatre lighting and pendants, for a new, second operating theatre in the maternity unit at Colchester General Hospital.
Bender was recommended by the hospital’s M & E consulting engineers – who had previously worked with it – to the main turnkey contractor for the theatre fitout, Colne Valley Building Services.
Nick Lee, Colne Valley Building Services’ MD, said: “We were immediately impressed with Bender’s technical expertise and ‘can do’ attitude. Bender offered considerable design input throughout to ensure we provided the best possible solution within our budget.”
This included increasing the resilience and safety of the theatre’s electrical supply through the installation of Bender’s ATICS medical auto-changeover device. ATICS ‘removes the single-point-of-failure threat to power resilience inherent in the traditional single supply cable, by enabling supply from two different sources’. Bender also engaged with the clinical team, and carried out in-theatre trials of the proposed Steris XLED surgical lights.
As the manufacturer of the surgeons’ panel which forms the ‘hub’ of the theatre, the company project-managed this aspect. Interfaces within the panel, such as surgical lighting and IPS /UPS, were already covered under the Bender contract, but a number of third-party systems also needed to interface with it.
