Given the challenges of the past eighteen months, it is crucial that a robust strategy is adopted by hospitals and healthcare facilities to help ensure patient safety. Here, Becky Hill, Business Development Manager at Veolia Water Technologies UK explains why a consistent pure water supply should form an integral part of that overall strategy.
Equipment failure or system shutdown can, for a healthcare facility, cause significant after-effects like departmental closures and appointment cancellations and outbreaks of healthcare-acquired infections. As the country continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals are also now faced with another problem; tackling long waiting lists after a significant number of appointments were suspended. Furthermore, with a winter approaching which is expected to be hard on the NHS, any further delays due to equipment or system failures could be devastating for many of the country’s hospitals and their patients.
For many healthcare settings, such as decontamination and sterile services, endoscopy and laboratories, a consistent supply of pure water is a necessity. Purified water is also crucial for dialysing patients and as a result, there are vital parameters that the pure water has to meet. Monitoring these parameters closely is critical, so pure water technologies and monitoring equipment must be robust.
By working with a water technology expert such as Veolia Water Technologies UK (VWT UK), healthcare facilities can take advantage of Hubgrade, a smart solution that allows engineers to monitor pure water production and implement operational strategies in line with day-to-day concerns. With Hubgrade, you can address specific water optimisation needs and respond to challenges throughout the water cycle. For example, it can guarantee an uninterrupted supply of pure water and even endeavour to reduce pure water production costs while maintaining the highest quality of water required.
The advanced user interface is a flexible, scalable system that can be implemented on a range of water technologies, from a complete water treatment plant to a single dialysis unit. It also provides 24/7 access to a secure web portal and a customisable interface to suit all types of users.
By using this portal, Hubgrade users can be more informed and make more accurate decisions about their water treatment equipment. They can access a digital library of relevant documents, including service reports, contracts and orders, while data visualisation is also used to collect and display process data from equipment.
Finally, Hubgrade provides events and alarms to ensure unexpected shutdowns or regulatory breaches are prevented. Its automatic reporting facility enables consistent and regular data analysis and reporting, while its maintenance module gives an overview of the tasks required and their level of urgency.
The Hubgrade system has been used recently at Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Hospital, a multi-speciality healthcare facility located in the United Arab Emirates. As the hospital has a series of clinical chemistry units that operate 24/7, it is key that a consistent supply of pure water is maintained. The hospital’s critical analysers are now fed by two ELGA MEDICA® Pro 6 RO units that have been equipped with Hubgrade for data visualisation and performance alerts – ensuring that consistency is maintained.
With Hubgrade, our service teams are able to remotely monitor RAK Hospital’s water quality so that if its water resistivity decreases, VWT engineers can immediately travel to the facility and replace the consumable, restoring the supply of pure water without any impact to the hospital’s operations. In one instance since installation, Hubgrade has also been able to alert the service team that the feed water to the ELGA units had stopped. From this information, the RAK Hospital team was able to troubleshoot the problem with the help of VWT before the facility’s water storage was depleted.
By adopting Hubgrade as a digital monitoring solution, healthcare facilities can optimise process water systems and prompt preventative maintenance – avoiding system downtime completely. Furthermore, operators and healthcare workers can rest assured that they will have seamless high purity water available at all times, crucial at a time when the healthcare system is under more pressure than ever before.
Click here to find out more about our Hubgrade smart monitoring system.
