Dry steam vapour decontamination - THE EVIDENCE
Osprey Deepclean has supported NHS Trusts in meeting its regulatory responsibilities. Here is the data compiled by the dry steam vapour cleaning equipment specialist.
Manufacturers are required to provide evidence of the performance of their products on request in direct response to NHS Trusts needs to be compliant with The Health Act 2006. Under Duty 4 of the Hygiene Code, NHS Trusts have a duty to provide and maintain a clean and appropriate environment for health care. This includes the selection of cleaning method, materials and frequency and compliance with Health & Safety and COSHH requirements.
Each Trust must have policies for the environment that make provision for liaison between the infection control team and facilities management. The Trust must demonstrate and provide evidence of the links between infection control and cleaning services. This will include documentary evidence that also includes the cleaning strategy, which can be monitored by the board, and policies for the environment, which state that facilities should be provided with best practice guidance, and with a view to reducing the risk of HCAIs.
The Trust must also ensure that there are effective arrangements for the appropriate decontamination of instruments and frequently touched equipment such as patient beds, furniture, drip stands and commodes.
To support NHS Trusts in meeting its regulatory responsibilities dry steam vapour cleaning equipment specialist, OspreyDeepclean has commissioned and obtained validated data.
A series of exhaustive trials held over a period of 12 months in conjunction with the UCLH environmental research unit, dept of microbiology, has resulted in the development of bespoke dry steam vapour cleaning tools, matched to specific standard operating procedures (SOPs) to achieve a consistent outcome.
The latter was identified by OspreyDeepclean from the outset as being a minimum requirement for the safe and effective use of dry steam vapour in the hospital environment. The risk to patient safety as a result of dispersion, aerosoliaerosolisation, or failure to decontaminate were diligently investigated and validated during the scientific research process.
Prior to the resulting OspreyDeepclean product launch, each dry steam vapour generator and cleaning tool was exposed to stringent performance challenges for aerosolisation and decontamination efficacy in order to meet those standards.
Furthermore, OspreyDeepclean has actively worked with original equipment manufacturers of patient beds and equipment to confirm compatibility of dry steam vapour cleaning with their products and materials and that the SOP does not infringe upon warranty standards or conditions.
This liaison has provided a vehicle for close collaboration between certain equipment manufacturers and the successful maintenance of their equipment by the hygiene service providers, which provides best practice in terms of specialised equipment and training in its use to meet consistent standards of hygiene care.
A world first
The new ProVap technology from Osprey Deepclean is thus the world’s first dry saturated dry steam vapour cleaning system to offer proven, microbiologically validated results for bacterial decontamination of a variety of surfaces and substrates within the healthcare sector.
A new generation, advanced dry steam vapour cleaning system, ProVap offers increased effectiveness, improved hygiene in use, and even has a self-disinfecting capability for hygienesensitive environments.
When used in combination with OspreyDeepclean standard operating procedures, the ProVap system is ideally suited for deployment as a front line decontamination tool for infection prevention and control measures.
Increasing bacterial resistance to cleaning chemicals and disinfectants together with cross contamination caused by social and professional interaction, are understood to be two of the quoted principle reasons why the incidence of hospital-acquired Infections (HAIs) has grown so rapidly in recent years.
Existing cleaning regimes are barely able to manage the current situation, let alone improve matters.
In order to combat the rapidly escalating problem, the UCLH environmental research unit, dept of microbiology, using the decommissioned Middlesex Hospital as a paramount test bed investigate the efficacy and viability of using microfibre and dry steam vapour cleaning technologies in the healthcare environment, with a view to restoring public trust and reducing the number of HAIs.
Previous independent studies commissioned by OspreyDeepclean had already determined the rapid destruction of micro organisms by applied dry steam vapour cleaning technologies, due to the massive heat penetration of the biofilm that these microscopic but life-threatening organisms inhabit.
What needed to be discovered by UCLH, was how such a desirable result could be broadened to include every possible surface found in hospitals, and most importantly, how it could be achieved consistently and effectively. The answer, it was felt, would lead to an assured outcome that ideally, could translate itself into daily cleaning activities.
In effect, elevating an everyday cleaning routine into a thoroughly validated decontamination procedure.
To set up the tests, typical high risk, high contact hospital surfaces such as bed frames, mattresses and chairs, were deliberately contaminated with today’s scourges of the healthcare environment, namely, MRSA, Acinetobacter, VRE, Klebsiella, Enterococcus faecalis and the spores of Clostridium difficile.
Decontamination tests were conducted using only Dry Steam Vapour generated by the OspreyDeepclean units and utilising purposedesigned prototype healthcare cleaning tools, which were themselves continually evaluated during the trials for cleaning efficiency and ease of use, being further refined during the course of the trials.
The results of each cleaning operation, closely following the rewritten Standard Operating Procedures that had been jointly determined for each new healthcare tool and for each application, were validated by UCLH microbiological readers and by further laboratory analysis, establishing that rapid decontamination of all test surfaces was achieved.
“This is where”, according to the infection directorate at UCLH, “design of the tool is absolutely critical.”
There are three purpose-designed and patented tools integral to the ProVap healthcare decontamination procedure. These are, firstly, the tube cleaner or bed frame cleaning tool, a c-shaped tool with steam slots located at intervals within its enclosure, so that when directed around bed frames it ensures complete coverage of all surfaces, including those facing away from the operator.
Specialist tool
“Even the best cleaning operator is working against the clock,” said Mike Osiadacz, UK sales director at OspreyDeepclean, and who was heavily involved in the decontamination trials at Middlesex Hospital.
“With only a short time to ready a bed for another patient there is a tendency with standard steam cleaning tools to merely aim and fire a burst of dry steam vapour at the bed frame. And unless he or she crawls around and underneath the bed, not every surface will be decontaminated. The tube cleaner ensures 100% decontamination provided the Standard Operating Procedure for bed frame cleaning is adhered to.”
The second tool, for mattresses, is another specialist tool that has been developed, which, used in conjunction with microfibre, ensures not only bacterial destruction but also physical lift of minute particles. The ProVap system naturally incorporates colour coded microfibre carriers for used and non-contaminated cloths.
The microfibre specified for the ProVap healthcare tooling is an ultra microfibre quality that is finer and has more surface area for improved absorption and particle lift. It is also a proprietary development to engineer microfibre specifically for each of the dry steam vapour tools.
The third healthcare tool is for curtain cleaning. Where usual practice would perhaps be to run a flat pad or carpet tool across both sides of each curtain in turn, this action can cause aerosolisation of micro-organisms, literally blasting them into the air to land on other surfaces, including staff, patients, and wound dressings.
The simple yet cunning design of the new ProVap curtain cleaning tool (patent pending) enables the operator to decontaminate both sides of a curtain simultaneously to a depth of 30 cms at a time, a band that well encompasses the leading or ‘grasp’ area of the curtain, and the part most likely to be contaminated.
After having decontaminated this ‘hot’ area first, the operator then gathers the remaining sections of curtain into the expanded part of the cleaning tool, once again applying dry steam vapour to the full height of the section of curtain.
With the new tool, bedside curtain decontamination not only remains in-situ, but it also becomes a self-contained operation that ensures non-aerosolisation of micro-organisms.
ProVap technology is thus ideally suited for decontamination of high risk, high contact hospital surfaces such as bed frames, mattresses, curtains, and chairs.
The stainless steel body of the ProVap is itself easy to keep clean of bacteria and the water filter vacuum ensures retention within the unit of dust, spores, pollen and other allergens. It also features innovative and patent pending dry steam vapour disinfecting chambers to avoid cross-contamination after each and every use.
These attributes, together with training from the OspreyDeepclean dry steam vapour education department, make ProVap technology a vital tool for combating a broad spectrum of HAIs and food bacteria found in healthcare environments and the food processing industry alike. They also make ProVap ideal for cleaning in educational institutions, supermarkets and other areas where hygiene is important.
“The ProVap project is the culmination of our many years experience as specialists in this field,” said Thomas Stuecken, Osprey’s managing director. “And it has naturally received extensive high level participation from our key team members from every division of the company working in the UK, Holland, France and the USA.
“In dry steam vapour cleaning machine design, development, and manufacture, Osprey Deepclean maintains a unique position as the leading global specialist. By introducing ProVap as a result of our realisation of the science behind dry steam vapour cleaning we have now pushed the boundaries still further.”>
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