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Based on national best practice throughout, The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s pioneering, new stroke unit, which provides acute and rehabilitation care, includes innovative radiators that give housekeeping staff full access for cleaning without having to call on the services of an estates tradesman. Making cleaning simple To make cleaning a simple and straightforward |
| process at the new, purpose-built stroke unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, the project team decided on the installation of innovative radiators that cleaning staff can easily and safely lower to the floor for full access, enabling them to give usually impossible to reach areas a thorough clean, without having to call on assistance from the estate’s team, while aiding infection prevention. The design of The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s new, £2.2 million stroke unit is based on national best practice throughout, incorporating all the latest facilities so that patients will require less time overall in hospital, and that includes all aspects of hygiene and infection prevention - which led to the specification of 42 Trionic DeepClean LST radiators from Contour Casings. |
| The radiator is made from a robust one-piece construction, which dramatically reduces installation time, and its unique design enables cleaning staff to have full and easy access to every internal surface, achieving best practice in fighting infection without incurring additional costs. A patented, quick release, full access, hinged door allows the front of the casing to rotate down to the floor and lie completely flat. Due to its robust construction the door can then be stood upon if necessary while cleaning, without causing |
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| any structural damage. The open-hinge design also facilitates complete door removal if required. Choice Alison Reeves, a project manager with the trust’s estates team, said: “The main reason we made the choice is that the cleaners usually have to call in estates if they need to clean the standard radiators. With the new style, if they need to do a clean they can do it without a tradesman. “One of our concerns was that if you keep dropping the radiators down to clean them the valves might get damaged or might burst. But it appeared to be well made and easy to operate.” |
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Cost neutral Alison added: “We try and standardise on products, we don’t chop and change. We have a standard radiator that had been costed into the budget for the project. So my concern was: could we have the Contour Casings radiator within the scheme, could we afford it? The answer was yes - it was cost neutral.” Housekeeping manager, Lorraine McGill, whose team is responsible for cleaning the new unit, explained: “The outside cover of the radiator is |
| lighter. It protects the radiator from getting dirty and prevents anything getting inside that might be a breeding ground for bugs. We have Allen keys to undo it. “The benefit is that the dust is not collecting on the radiator, it’s on the outside grille, which is easily accessible, which helps our cleaning task of fighting infection. The vertical radiator grilles themselves are wider and easier to clean.” |
| In Bournemouth 700 people per year have a stroke, with the borough having the highest proportion of 85 year olds in the country. The new, specially designed, self-contained stroke unit at The Bournemouth Royal Hospital will eliminate the inefficiencies of transferring between the trust’s two sites in Bournemouth and Christchurch. The new facility contains 36 beds, with each bay having its own shower and toilet, an overhead |
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| tracked hoist system is also installed. The unit has a separate dining room, lounge, group therapy area, lakeside garden and courtyard. There are assisted daily living facilities for occupational therapy, including a kitchen so patients can re-learn the skills they need when they go home. |
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| Full access for cleaning at a cost neutral price |
| Equipped with the latest best practice facilities, the aim of the pioneering stroke unit at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital is that patients will require less time overall in hospital. Such a first-class facility demanded a heating product which had been specifically developed for application in healthcare environments - Contour’s DeepClean LST radiator is a market leader in these circumstances. The pressure to provide buildings fit for purpose is also constantly increasing, with intense media coverage surrounding MRSA and other HAIs only adding to the demands placed upon service providers. Key issues In environments such as the new stroke unit at |
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| the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, vulnerable service users require protection from dangerously hot surfaces, while poor design which neglects any key issue can have serious consequences for both user and provider. The problem of accessing the inside of LST radiators for cleaning and maintenance has been an issue for service providers for many years. Also, eliminating the need for housekeeping to call on the services of estates staff would effectively reduce the cost of the process. The ideal would be to satisfy all of these factors without affecting the cost of a new LST radiator. Guided by these key drivers, the design team at Contour Casings, in consultation with industry experts, developed a range of low surface temperature (LST) radiator products that address all of today’s essential requirements. LSTs harbour dirt* LST radiators harbour dirt. The convection heating process draws in particles, lint and other contaminants and then re-distributes these particles in the air. An undisturbed casing provides ideal conditions for the growth and distribution of spores and bacteria, greatly increasing the risk of infection. So, environments such as hospitals require a product that allows for fast and effective cleaning. MRSA can survive in a desiccated state in dust for long periods - up to 175 days. (*Source: Long-term-in-vitro survival of an epidemic MRSA phage-group III-29 strain J.H.T Wagenvoort and R.J.R Penders). |
| Traditional LST radiator casing designs are fixed boxes and are difficult to access, with internal cleaning involving complete disassembly. Many current radiator guards are heavy and awkward to lift, with cleaning staff requiring the assistance of several maintenance personnel – the whole process of cleaning radiator casings is slow and costly. One guard alone can take up to 30 minutes to disassemble, remove, clean, reassemble and refit. Helping to prevent HAIs Leigh Simpson, managing director Contour Casings, said: “Through long-standing relationships with senior estates professionals, we have developed a range of heating products and services suitable for any healthcare application. |
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At the heart of our company ethos is the fight against HAIs. After many years of working successfully within the healthcare sector and actively pushing forward product development, we now understand intimately the needs of cleaning personnel and how we can help them meet daily cleaning targets. “We were also conscious of the need to keep any advancement in LST radiator technology at a comparable price with ‘traditional’ styles, and I am pleased to say we have been able to achieve that.” After developing easy access radiator guards, a further innovative approach was applied to the |
| LTS radiators.
By incorporating unique rotary valve fittings, which are WRAS Approved and have a design life of a minimum of 50 years, the design also allows the radiator to be lowered down to floor level - enabling easily accessible cleaning on every internal surface, as well as the wall around and behind the radiator. Contour Casings is also the only LST radiator and radiator guard supplier to incorporate BioCote anti-microbial technology to the product coating, inhibiting the growth of harmful bacteria on the casing and significantly helping to prevent the spread of HAIs. The natural silver-based technology in BioCote has been proven to reduce microbes by up to 99.99% over a two-hour period on treated product surfaces against E.coli, MRSA and the H1N1 virus, for the expected life of the product. Leading healthcare estates and facilities departments and architects now routinely embrace and specify Contour Casings’ advanced LST radiator and radiator guard products in order to save money and improve daily efficiencies, with the cleaner, safer facilities that result from this benefitting both the end user and service provider. For further information on all of Contour Casings’ products and services or to arrange for a free site survey, call 01952 290 498, e-mail enquiries@contourcasings.co.uk or visit www.contourcasings.co.uk |
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