Frontline Feature - Decontamination Unit
Sally Whitaker, Decontamination Supervisor, told us how her team have adapted their skills to help out other frontline staff during Covid-19:
The Decontamination Unit is based in endoscopy and we usually spend our time cleaning and reprocessing scopes for the entire trust.
It is a very busy department and we are doing a vital job to ensure the safety of patients that come into the Royal Surrey.
With the suspension of lots of Outpatient Clinics, we were looking to do more to help the front line staff in this difficult time. We heard that lots of face visors and goggles had been donated so we looked into how we could reprocess these donated items using our decontamination machines.
We cleaned twelve large boxes of goggles and masks roughly (1500) and set about providing the Wards, Emergency Department, Emergency Assessment Unit, Theatres and Intensive Care Unit with them. We do a round every day and collect all the dirty goggles, then hand wash and clean them in our machines before drying them and re stocking all the above areas.
It was a challenge to set up but we know that everyone is pleased with what we are doing. The team had to adjust compared to the way we normally work but that's what is great about working in this hospital, we are all up for any challenge and there is nothing we cannot achieve.