St Bartholomew’s Hospital has installed a high-performance air filtration system so more cystic fibrosis patients can receive essential physiotherapy more often.
The introduction of Commercial Air Filtration technology at the central London hospital, near St Paul’s Cathedral, is expected to have greatly increased treatment capacity in the hospital’s Respiratory Medicine Department.
The team was limited by the number of cystic fibrosis patients who could receive physiotherapy due to the risk of cross-infection. The department had to safely ventilate the area after use, meaning just two patients a day could be treated in the gymnasium.
Prior to installation of the equipment, the only way to clean the air in the gym was to open the windows, causing considerable knock-on effects for patient treatment lead times.
An ongoing audit by the hospital is expected to show the new IQAir Cleanzone SLS filter has collapsed the time between treatment sessions, meaning more cystic fibrosis patients can receive treatment every day.
Christian Lickfett, Managing Director of Commercial Air Filtration, added: “With NHS budgets under pressure, St Bart’s solution needed to be one that would not only greatly benefit cystic fibrosis patients but also be cost-effective."
“Physiotherapy is an essential component of the treatment for cystic fibrosis, so the department’s ability slash the downtime for its facilities means they can treat more patients more often — collapsing the time to treatment."
“The filtration unit is capable of filtering 820 m3 of air per hour, offers whole system HEPA filtration, requires very little maintenance and was up and running within two hours of arriving on site."
“This practical solution was simple to implement, cost-effective and has had a great impact on efficiency for both staff and patients.”