Q: What Can The Designer Do To Fight Healthcare Acquired Infections?

By Author: Steven Marshall
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Q: what can the designer
do to fight healthcare
acquired infections?

A: pro-active ward design
and selecting infection
beating products will help.
An American study found an 11% reduction
in infection rates in a new private room facility
compared to the more traditional layout of
older buildings. The American Institute of
Architects changed it’s hospital design
guidelines in July 2006 to recommend
individual rooms.
The biggest impact an
architect can have on
the spread of infection
is to provide single
occupancy rooms.
In the UK, the NHS Confederation has gone
even further; it suggests single rooms with
en-suite facilities as a way of optimising
infection control. The cost of such a design
should be viewed in the long term. The
financial savings from efficient control are,
according to a Philadelphia study, three
times the cost of control measures.
In October 2006 the Department of Health
published ...
... the ‘Code of Practice for the
Prevention and Control of HCAI’. Section 4e
states that ‘An NHS body must… ensure
adequate provision of suitable hand wash
facilities’. Basins should be sited, in addition
to washroom applications, in all patient
areas, treatment rooms, sluices and
kitchens. In clinical areas they should be
fitted with wrist or elbow operated mixer
taps or ideally a mixer with automatic ‘no
touch’ operation.
Beyond building design
and hand washing facilities,
specifying products
designed to break the
infection chain, will produce
a safer environment.
The best way to stop HCAI is to eliminate the infectious agent or deny it
a reservoir in which to grow. Armitage
Shanks products are designed to do just that. The Contour
21 basin First, let’s talk about what this basin doesn’t have.
It doesn’t have any tapholes, it doesn’t have an overflow, or a
chain hole or a plug. What it has is concealed
fixing brackets and an integral back outlet. There are virtually no ‘reservoirs’
in which water can promote the growth of bacteria. The original Contour
basin was developed specifically for hospital use in the 1960’s and
this latest version features a new shape and internal structure designed to
meet the needs of the modern hospital. The Rimless
Contour 21 WC This back-to-wall WC has a simple footprint and no awkward
to clean gap between it and the wall. The very shape of the WC denies the bugs
the dark damp places they need. In most WCs the rim serves one function; to
guide the flush water around the bowl. Unfortunately, it also provides a residence
for bacteria. The rimless Contour
21 WC has no rim. A single, easy to disinfect, outlet works with an internal
bowl design to flush the WC. Performance and hygiene, by design.
Markwik
taps & mixers For years Markwik
brassware has set the standard for healthcare fittings. Recently redesigned,
the range addresses current issues, particularly infection control. The most
obvious feature of the new fittings is one that is missing, the swan neck. New
Markwik
now has a horizontal outlet to ensure water drains completely, reducing the
risk of bacteria build up. Not many mixers can clean themselves. Markwik can.
By attaching a bridging pipe between hot and cold inlets the mixer can be flushed
through, with hot bug killing water. Similarly check valves, filters and strainers
can be removed and disinfected without removing the mixer from the wall panel.
Markwik fittings feature integral thermostats that mix the water virtually at
the tap’s outlet. This avoids the warm water, bacteria friendly, dead
leg common to mixers with a separate remote thermostat.
Steven is the IT Director of MyTub - Plumbing Supplies. An online plumbing merchant business with over 150000 lines that are delivered to commercial, local authorities and domestic customers UK wide.