Sterile service NHS project moves to stage two
Welconstruct reveals how its £3.7m project to deliver a state-of-the-art sterile services centre in Berkshire is progressing, as it embarks on the second phase
A 200-tonne crane lift on site at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, UK, at the beginning of May marked the first major milestone in a nine-month fit-out
and refurbishment programme that will provide a combined decontamination and sterilisation facility fully compliant with the EU Sterile Services Medical Devices Directive.
Cleanroom contractor Welconstruct confidently predicts that the new facility will be operational as early as October 2008.
Employing a total of 30 staff, the new unit at Wexham Park Hospital is set to incorporate additional space made redundant by previous theatre upgrades and will also serve Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot. The facility will be responsible for cleaning and sterilising all re-usable instruments and equipment used in the operating theatres, wards, clinics and departments of both sites.
The centre will be managed by the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals National Health Service Foundation Trust (HWPH), which provides hospital services and more than 550 beds to a 400,000 population across East Berkshire and South Buckinghamshire.
Steve Spencer, project manager for sterile services specialists Welconstruct, said: “Following the recent crane lift, re-roofing works are now in progress on site at Wexham Park Hospital, signalling that the second phase of the project is well under way. This is a highly technical and specialist programme of works that will also see Welconstruct lead the provision of utilities, including purified water, gas and medical air, together with various M&E services.
“With more than a decade of experience in the delivery of sterile services facilities across both public and private sectors, Welconstruct has driven the first phase of the project forward ahead of schedule, while adhering to exacting EU standards.”
The Sterile Services Centre will act as a state-of-the-art facility for the washing, checking, packing and sterilis-ation of medical items, and will deal with approximately 96,000 DIN baskets per annum. A labelling system will provide the date of sterilisation and autoclave and cycle numbers, and all of the sterilised items will then be distributed back to their correct location ready for use.
Den Watts, from Estates Design and Technical Services, said: “The completion of the first phase of this crucially important facility underpins the Trust’s commitment to efficient, state-of-the-art sterile services facilities.
“The vision behind this project is fast becoming a reality and, by late autumn, the Trust will have not only a sterile services centre that meets the demands of two of its major sites, it will also have the ability to market a sterile service for external customers from a flagship multi million pound unit.”
Healthcare-build experience
Welconstruct was appointed as specialist contactor by the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospitals Trust (Capital Projects Department), in association with design and project administrators Estates Design and Technical Services (EDTS), following a competitive tender process with five other companies.
As a provider of workspace, supply chain and environmental solutions from concept to completion, Welconstruct recently completed several other healthcare projects including schemes for the Wolverhampton NHS Trust and the Homerton NHS Trust in London, and a £1.5m sterile services unit at the NHS Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.