Medical Air Technology (MAT) is proud to have been part of the team that delivered the new £25m treatment centre for Queen’s Hospital Burton, installing two ultraclean operating theatres as part of the centre’s state-of-the-art facilities for orthopaedic surgery. The biggest development the hospital has seen in 15 years, the 4,141m² three-storey treatment centre was built using modular construction.

Linked to the main hospital via a corridor, the self-contained extension means that patients can be treated either in the main hospital or the treatment centre, which between them now contain all the inpatient services that were once spread around the site in smaller, older buildings. Centralising the facilities in this way streamlines services and supports enhanced infection prevention and control.

The treatment centre houses two MAT ECO-flow™ ultraclean ventilation (UCV) operating theatres, a 28-bedded ward, and an outpatient suite for orthopaedics, urology and breast services. MAT’s scope of work in the operating theatres and recovery area encompassed all M&E services and a full fit-out, featuring ECO-flow™ UCV canopies, operating theatre lights, PACS, theatre panels and IPS/UPS. This total turnkey scheme was one of many projects MAT has carried out at Queen’s Hospital Burton. Sister company MAT FM also holds the service and maintenance contract for all the hospital’s UCV operating theatres.

“I think our patients will see a massive improvement in this new facility and it will also help us to deliver services in a more effective and safer way, particularly for infection prevention and control.”

Gavin Boyle,

chief executive of the University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Trust

Ultraclean Ventilation

Delivered via a screened or screenless canopy over the operating theatre clean zone, the MAT ultraclean ventilation system provides a method of diluting air to the level required in HTM 03-01 Specialised Ventilation for Healthcare Premises, which defines ultraclean air as that containing not more than 10 CFU/m3.

Air is discharged above the operating zone, its downward displacement purging the clean zone of any contaminants and particles generated within it. The airflow in and around the clean zone also prevents particles from outside the zone from entering (entrainment).

HTM 03-01 confirms that the link between surgical site infection and theatre air quality is well established:

“…ultra-clean ventilation systems (which are designed to provide a zone around the patient that is effectively free of bacteria-carrying airborne particles while the operation is in progress) have been shown to significantly reduce surgical site infection in patients undergoing large joint replacement surgery.”