When Purity Is Critical - St. Michael's Hospital, Dun Laoghaire

Background

St. Michael's Hospital is an acute general hospital providing a range of specialised hospital services to the people of South Dublin and Wicklow. St. Michael's is part of the St. Vincent's Healthcare Group and is a nursing teaching hospital affiliated to U.C.D.

The Endoscope Decontamination Department at St. Michael's sterilise up to 40 endoscopes per day using Wassenburg endoscope washer-disinfectors and previously relied on particle filtration as a means to purify the water used. However, with decontamination a subject of growing concern as demands on their CSSD department increases St. Michael's Hospital decided in order to ensure their programme of objectives & on-going regulatory compliances were achieved they needed to source a company that could provide a packaged pure water solution that would ensure reliability, innovation, functionality & patient safety. Furthermore, the need for exceptional service & value for money was of the utmost importance.

Solution

After detailed consultation with Veolia Water Techologies a clear blueprint was agreed upon to meet the current and future needs of the CSSD Department. Crucial to the smooth operation of the Decontamination unit is the provision of large quantities of purified water. Veolia Water Technologies provided St. Michael's with an Veolia BIOPURE 120 ensuring contamination risk to patients is minimised by the use of compliant water maintained through the use of in-line UV oxidation, deionisation and molecular ultra filtration. This highly efficient pure water solution boasts a number of key features including:

·Guaranteed bacterial specification of <1 CFU/10ml provided by the integrated purification technologies all located inside one single system

·Delivers up to 10 litres per minute of compliant water. Meets the latest medical standards (EN15883, HTM2030/2031, NHS MESc52, MDA/HIS, ISO 15883 part 4, EN285)

·Easy to use monthly disinfection programme

·Compact design can easily fit under bench

·Full service and validation support

Key Benefits

Inside each BIOPURE system is an efficient reverse-osmosis membrane that removes a range of organic and inorganic contaminants and an integral treated-water reservoir with a bacterial vent filter to maintain microbiological integrity. As a result this Endoscope Decontamination Department has a continual source of purified water feeding their endoscopy automatic endoscope reprocessors. The BIOPURE 120 is neatly located beside the Wassenburg washer disinfector delivering key benefits including:

• The microbial purity of the water delivered from this BIOPURE 120 eliminates such issues as bacterial failure
• The purified water is continuously recirculated through the BIOPURE 120 purification technologies which provide St. Michael's with the assurance that their water is constantly within specification
• A unique, validated, self-disinfecting programme which is initiated via the unit's "e-key" allows for a simple and secure way to maintain the system

Today the Endoscope Decontamination Department is ideally positioned to continue meeting with regulatory standards and the wider service demands well into the future.

"We are delighted with this solution as the availability of pure water for the washing of our endoscopes is crucial. The ELGA Biopure has given us greater confidence in the water we are using and this is vital considering how busy we are and the importance of compliant water in the overall decontamination process." Maribel Franco, Sterile Services Manager.

For more information about our innovative Purified Water Solutions please contact a member of our team.