Hospital Sterile
Supply Unit
The unit is open from 08:00 – 20:00 Monday to Thursday 08:00 – 18:00 Friday and 08:00-14:00 on a Saturday.
A skeleton staff is available on a Bank Holiday.
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Hospital Sterile
Supply Unit
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| One of the most crucial support
services in the hospital is the HSSU. Without the service they provide,
clinical departments would find it difficult to function. The HSSU is situated
on the second floor between the Reproductive Medicine Unit and the Gynaecological
Wards. The unit is comprised of two senior supervisors who have responsibility
for the day to day management and seven assistants all under the control
of Directorate manager Gwenda Dunn. The unit is open from 08:00 – 20:00 Monday to Thursday 08:00 – 18:00 Friday and 08:00-14:00 on a Saturday. A skeleton staff is available on a Bank Holiday. |
| The Process |
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HSSU provides a guaranteed 24-hour turn-around service but staffs try to meet emergencies when they arise. All used equipment and trays are collected at specified pick-up points and times by a member of staff and brought into the washroom through the "dirty entrance". All equipment is checked from the list in each tray and if an item is missing it is recorded and the relevant department notified. |
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All tubed equipment is cleaned using the Medisafe sonic irrigator who uses sound waves to loosen and dislodge any material. All washable equipment is placed in one of three Washer/Disinfector machines. The process takes between 30/40 minutes. Delicate and/or expensive items are washed by hand as they cannot withstand the heat/chemicals used in the machines. All equipment is entered into the machine from the "dirty" side and is removed from the other "clean" side. Once cleaned all items are checked that they are still in working order. |
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The trays are then checked from a checklist, which is placed inside each tray. They are then labelled with the date and identification, together with the name of the person who checked and packed the tray. Individual items, which cannot
go in trays, are also checked and placed in two individually sealed clear
plastic bags following the same labelling procedure. The trays and equipment are then
placed in one of the two autoclaves. An autoclave is basically a huge
oven, which sterilises the equipment using pressurised steam at a temperature
of either 1340C or 1210C. |
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| The process takes between 30/50
minutes. During the process a printout gives a complete recording: the date,
start and finish time, operator’s number, temperature reached, type of load
and the number of hours the machine has been working. A "Bowie Dick Test" has to be carried out by the staff on the autoclaves every morning before they can be used, to test that the air removal on the autoclaves is working properly. They are also checked weekly and monthly by the Estates Department and yearly by an independent body to ensure the equipment reaches legal standards. Once out of the autoclave the equipment, by using the colour coding, is returned to the appropriate departments at specified times leaving HSSU by the "clean" exit. The work of the HSSU is complex and exhaustive. Records for the month of may show that some 8083 items of equipment of 70 types were processed for seven different departments |
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