Medical Air Technology (MAT) has recently competed work at Torbay Hospital, installing two of its new ECO-flow ultraclean ventilation (UCV) canopies as part of a major theatre refurbishment project there.
MAT was brought in after the hospital closed two operating theatres following concerns about the resilience of the air-handling units. The Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust acted quickly to address the situation, bringing forward plans to replace the ageing theatres, and putting in place a range of other strategies to increase capacity in the remaining ones, ensuring that disruption to patients and staff was minimised.
Of the two closed theatres, one was conventional and the other included a UCV canopy. Following the refurbishment, both theatres now have incorporate MAT ECO-flow 2800 UCV system, increasing the hospital’s orthopaedic capacity. An interesting element of the overall design was the Trust’s decision to use compact air-handling units (AHUs) due to limited plant space. Each of the compact AHUs feeds into a common duct header, servicing both theatres. Motorised dampers and pressure sensors ensure that the ventilation to each theatre can be controlled independently.
MAT and its sister company, MAT FM, have both previously carried out work at Torbay Hospital, so the installation team was familiar with the site and the Estates Department, which helped to streamline planning and processes. The Trust had also appointed several other contractors to work on the refurbishment, so activity had to be scheduled to allow all those involved to work on their specific areas. MAT said: “We are used to working flexibly to accommodate client needs, and were able to meet this potentially challenging requirement with ease.”
MAT, which has its own in-house UK manufacturing facility and a ‘dedicated team of highly skilled engineers’, manufactures and supplies bespoke equipment ‘for demanding clinical and life science arenas’. Clients can choose from several options – ranging from ‘UCV canopy only’, through to a total turnkey package. MAT FM can provide a range of ‘competitively priced and highly effective’ service and maintenance packages for all core products and turnkey solutions offered by MAT or other suppliers.
