Keeping the water supply safe is an integral part of hospital hygiene and infection prevention. To minimise contamination risks, explains Julie Spinks, managing director of WRAS, healthcare estates teams need to be fully aware of their regulatory responsibilities, rigorously apply risk management, use compliant products, and employ approved contractors.
Management of water is an integral part of hospital hygiene and infection prevention. While Legionella control is well understood, the water fittings, equipment, and appliances used in hospitals or other healthcare facilities can present further contamination risks to the water supply. For this reason, explains Julie Spinks, managing director of the Water Regulations Advisory Scheme (WRAS), healthcare estates teams need to be fully aware of their regulatory responsibilities, ensure that risk management is rigorously applied, use compliant products, and employ approved contractors.
Hospitals are identified by water companies as a type of site with a high risk of contaminating the public water supply. A hospital water supply will serve a large population, of which a high proportion will be classed as vulnerable users. Other key factors include the likely presence of serious contaminates (blood and pathogens etc.), and the nature of how water is being used. High risk areas in a typical hospital, which are often prioritised for inspection, include:
Despite what would you would imagine would be a highly vigilant approach by healthcare engineering and other hospital personnel responsible for water safety, recent compliance inspections of hospitals by Yorkshire Water in its supply area revealed a number of concerning findings. These included:
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