A SOUTHAMPTON hospital is to benefit from a cut of £1m to invest in decontamination facilities.

Care UK Healthcare has invested £1m in an upgrade of the Central Sterile Services Departments (CSSD) at its hospitals in Southampton Royal South Hants, Shepton Mallet and Gillingham.

CSSDs are used to effectively decontaminate equipment used at each hospital.

Each hospital is accredited by the British Standards Institute which not only guarantees the quality of the service, but also allows each hospital to explore opportunities to offer the service in the future to other clinical facilities which use equipment which needs to be decontaminated after each use.

The upgrade, courtesy of STERIS, allows for faster processing and up to three times as many instruments decontaminated per hour.

The new system is also less harmful on the environment and it is estimated that during the course of a six month period all three hospitals it will save around one million litres of water per hospital.

Andy Lunt, Managing Director, Care UK Healthcare, added: “This is the latest in a long line of investment made by Care UK at its hospitals and it stands testament to the commitment we willingly make to ensure our patients get the best care possible – our patients sit at the heart of everything we do.”

Throughout the current coronavirus pandemic, the hospital believes that the new upgrade is a "useful facility" that in time could help a wide range of organisations to decontaminate their equipment and keep patients safe.

The new system allows each hospital to do more at greater efficiency. Combined with BSI accreditation, it also means the opportunity to offer the service to other organisations in the area in the future.

Martin Carr, Commercial Director for STERIS said: “We are delighted to have been chosen to work with the Care UK team, supporting the vital and safe delivery of patient surgical care through the installation of industry leading sterilisation equipment.”