Specialist contractor, Medical Air Technology (MAT), has upgraded Theatre 2 at Fairfield Independent Hospital in St Helens, Merseyside, one of the few remaining independent charitable hospitals in the country, to ultraclean with the addition of one of its ECO-flow ultraclean ventilation (UCV) system.
MAT was appointed after the hospital undertook a formal tender process and the board approved its business case, which the company says ‘demonstrated a clear understanding of the requirements and project drivers, supported by straightforward, concise project proposals that gave cost certainty and evidence of flexibility of installation to meet surgical demands’. In addition to the theatre refit, MAT carried out hydrogen peroxide disinfection of both theatre suites and the surrounding department. The installation was completed in just 18 working days over the Christmas and New Year period to ensure a prompt handover.
This is not the first time MAT has worked at Fairfield Independent Hospital. In 2017-2018 it carried out modification of the existing sterile pack store to separate it into two ‘prep’ rooms, one serving each theatre. As part of this, MAT installed one of its ‘unique’ lay-up cabinets, initially loaned to the hospital for trialling. The hospital was so impressed that it not only purchased it, but also bought a second unit for the other ‘prep’ room.
Andrew Jones, director of Hospital Services at Fairfield Independent Hospital, said: “We are very happy with the work carried out by MAT. Throughout the project, we appreciated the benefits of working with a company with such a thorough understanding of surgical site infection and a product portfolio designed to address it. We were really pleased with how quickly and easily the lay-up cabinets were installed. The new ‘prep’ rooms and theatre give our clinical teams the best environment for delivering the outstanding, safe care patients have come to expect from Fairfield Independent Hospital."
The turnkey project started with the strip-out of the existing theatre, before work began to install the new energy-efficient ECO-flow 2.8 UCV system, complete with new extract air- handling unit, ventilation system, electrics, pressure stabilisers, thermal insulation, medical gases, and BMS controls. The refit also included a touchscreen theatre panel, IPS/UPS and operating lights, from Brandon Medical, completing the upgrade of the fully HBN- and HTM-compliant theatre.
MAT says the delivery system for the patented hydrogen peroxide and silver solution used at the hospital reaches areas where traditional cleaning methods cannot, and is ‘extremely successful’ at eliminating dangerous bacteria and viruses. MAT sprayed everything in the two theatre suites, recovery and adjoining areas, including medical equipment left in situ. The area was then fogged to ensure thorough disinfection.
