The Sir Robert Ogden Macmillan Centre – a newly-built cancer support and information centre at Harrogate District Hospital – features antimicrobial copper touch surfaces to boost patient safety.
Designed by IBI Group and constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine, the centre offers patients the highest-quality treatment teamed with an integrated supportive care and complementary therapy scheme, with the goal of providing a truly-holistic and therapeutic service.
Given the key importance of cleanliness within any healthcare environment – to reduce the risk of infections spreading between patients, staff and visitors – IBI Group singled out some of the most frequently-touched surfaces for special consideration.
Door furniture is touched often, and by many different people, and was thus the first surface targeted. The chosen material needed to offer improved hygiene, while blending seamlessly with the aesthetic of the centre.
Allgood answered this challenge with its Contego range of antimicrobial copper lever handles, push plates, pull handles, WC turns and escutcheons.
Made from a copper alloy and benefiting from the metal’s inherent ability to rapidly kill bacteria and viruses on contact, Contego products have the aesthetic of stainless steel, meaning they also complement the surrounding, non-touch items such as signage, door closers and kick plates.
Touch surfaces made from solid copper and copper alloys – collectively termed antimicrobial copper – are being installed in healthcare facilities around the world as an additional method of preventing infection.
With proven efficacy against bacteria that cause healthcare-associated infections, including MRSA and C.difficile, and highly-infectious viruses such as Influenza A and norovirus, antimicrobial copper surfaces continuously reduce contamination in between regular cleaning, reducing the risk of pathogens being picked up on people’s hands and spreading infection.
