A report on a recent study by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham into dismantlable and demountable thermostatic mixing taps – part of a quest to find the optimal ‘safe’ tap design.
What is the optimal tap design to minimise contamination from waterborne or environmental Pseudomonas aeruginosa in healthcare facilities and care homes, where some of the most vulnerable patients or residents are at risk from such potentially lethal infections? In an article written just prior to last month’s publication of the new HTM 04-01, Safe Water in Healthcare Premises (2016), Susan Pearson BSc, a freelance journalist specialising in medicine and the environment, examines a recent study at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (QEHB) that suggests the use of thermostatic mixing taps that can be both de-mounted and dismantled to enable both the thermostatic mixing valve (TMV) and the spout to be cleaned separately offers a solution for infection control teams wishing to retain TMVs.
As tap design has evolved, alongside emerging understanding of transmission of Pseudomonas infections via water, a particular focus of discussion has been on the role of sensor taps and complex mixer taps, which, because they deliver water at a temperature conducive to bacterial growth, can become colonised. However, new data from a recent study demonstrates how a benchtop washer/disinfector can be used to decontaminate the latest generation of detachable taps. This protocol, which has not been used before in the UK, highlights how decontamination of tap systems incorporating thermostatic mixer valves can be simplified.
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