It is well established that good management and processing of human waste in a healthcare setting is a key part of infection control. For immobile, partially mobile or incontinent patients and residents, this will one way or another require the need of a dirty utility or sluice-room as part of the process, alongside waste segregation, cleaning processes and ideally disposal as promptly as possible.
If equipment in the sluice room is not working properly then this therefore creates an infection risk that is proportional to the length of time until it is resolved. Based on this insight, the team here at Haigh design our products and services with the principle that “uptime is infection control”, and have developed an approach that has this at its core. There are a wide number of factors that can achieve maximum uptime, covered broadly by the reliability of the equipment, correct equipment usage, suitable maintenance, early identification of potential issues and ultimately rapid resolution of any downtime.
Many sites rely heavily on service level agreements (SLAs) that are either imposed internally or with third party providers; these tend to be responsive in nature and do not necessarily reward or encourage processes that result in the best overall up-time. Broadening the topic to cover the following in a balanced way can bring tangible benefits to a site for minimal cost or effort:
– Ensuring simplicity and robustness of equipment is a consideration when purchasing
– Implementing basic telemetry (e.g. email / text message alerts / BMS) for equipment faults
– Considering maintenance schedules and regular user training
– Implementing a rapid ‘swap out’ process
While the first three points here are well established across many sectors including healthcare, Haigh have taken the swap out concept to the next level in the sluice room with the Panaway DS bedpan machine. It is now a possible to replace a faulty machine with a replacement in a matter of minutes based, getting your waste disposal process back online rapidly, with repairs to be undertaken at a more convenient, efficient time and place rather than in the middle of a busy healthcare environment and all the risks that are associated with that.
To find out more about how Panaway DS can improve uptime at your site and to discuss a risk free trial please contact the team at info@haighmed.com or 01989 763131 Option 2