Pure water plays a vital role in the decontamination of equipment within hospitals and healthcare facilities. It is essential in helping prevent the spread of resistant pathogens, as well as ensuring the long-term performance of essential endoscopes and medical instruments.
Greg Pilbrow, from Veolia Water Technologies UK, discusses the importance of ensuring a reliable source of purified water that is in accordance with the Healthcare Technical Memoranda (HTM) guidance.
The rise of antimicrobial resistance
Fighting resistant pathogens is one of the most serious issues facing hospitals and healthcare facilities across the UK, costing lives and money. Unlike normal pathogens, resistant pathogens are unaffected by most antibiotics. As a result, when these pathogens cause infections, they lead to serious illnesses that are difficult to treat. Resistant pathogens can cause infections in healthy people, either by entering the blood stream as a result of invasive surgery or through the use of catheters or the insertion of tubes into veins. It is a prevalent issue, affecting one in every 16 patients admitted to hospital, according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE).1
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