Members of the Institute’s Southern Branch visited the Portsmouth offices of Pall Medical, an IHEEM company affiliate, where they viewed its product range and listened to an excellent presentation on the benefits of point-of-use/terminal filters.
Value of point-of-use filters highlighted
The company provides a range of filters for applications in the healthcare market as well as in commercial, aerospace and defence sectors.
The emphasis for the visit and talk, however, was on point-of-use filters for use in healthcare establishments. The presentation described the bacteria, fungi and parasites that can be present in water systems. Also focused on were how biofilms are formed and how they lead to the transmission of waterborne pathogens.
The branch members were told that thermal and chemical treatments of water systems cannot always prevent contamination of the installations.
Pall’s solution for the protection of patients, particularly those in specialist units providing care for the immunosuppressed, is to provide terminal filters to all water outlets within a specified area.
The presenter made a good financial case for the fitting of such units and compared the price of antibiotics to fight infection caused by water contamination to the cost of fitting filters. In the case presented, this provided a significant five-fold return on investment.
