The Royal Stoke University Hospital in the UK is the first NHS hospital to have a bay fully fitted with Bioquell Pods. The hospital’s Elderly Care Unit has increased its single occupancy room capacity following the introduction of the four Bioquell Pods; installed in one of the unit’s bays, this technology will alleviate bed-blocking and increase patient flow through the ward.
For the nursing staff at Royal Stoke, the Pods give the option to quickly isolate patients suspected of having an infection. This rapid action can significantly prevent outbreaks such as norovirus or C. difficile from spreading. They also provide the teams with optimal visibility for better care due to the large clear panel windows.
The new Pods have been shown to be capable of being fully bio-decontaminated in under 50 minutes. This is helping to improve the time between the patient’s discharge and the safe admission of the next patient, given the ‘deep clean’ that has taken place, and avoids the need to empty the whole ward. The Royal Stoke University Hospital is also the first to have Pods commissioned with Bioquell’s latest hydrogen peroxide vapour (HPV) bio-decontamination technology, the BQ-50, which is proven to kill 99.9999% of pathogens.
The lack of single occupancy rooms in hospitals around the UK leads to disruption and financial losses. An infected patient, who cannot be isolated, will often initiate a series of disruptive events within a bay. Outbreaks, bed-blocking, ward-closure, longer hospital stays and extra expenses are all potential consequences of the open-bay structure that characterises many NHS hospitals.
On commissioning the Bioquell Pods, Sam Burroughes, Bioquell’s sales manager, cut the ribbon with Ann Rowley, Deputy Ward Manager, and declared, ‘The Royal Stoke couldn’t have chosen a better solution to improve patient flow through the ward. The Bioquell Pods will enable them to provide a safe environment to all their patients.’