SMTL environmental monitoring of new theatre suites for Swansea Bay University Health Board
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The SMTL Quality Assurance department has recently completed a testing programme for the Swansea Bay University Health Board at their new Theatre Suite located at Neath Port Talbot Hospital, an investment of more than £6m.
The newly built theatre suite and supplemental areas have been cleverly designed to be incorporated to existing theatre infrastructure, fitted with three new state of the art operating theatres which is set to become the health board’s Centre of Excellence for Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgery.
SMTL were tasked with the airborne microbiological testing of all Operating Theatres to validate the cleanliness of these commissioned theatres prior to use. The new theatre project went extremely well as planned and within schedule, with all performing within expected parameters.
SMTL's Gavin Hughes presents at ILF Conference 2023
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Dr Gavin Hughes was invited to present at the 11th International Lymphoedema Framework Conference held at Nottingham.
Gavin presented on the work SMTL have undertaken in conjunction with Welsh NHS lymphoedema clinicians to independently assess compression garments for NHS Wales Contracts. The presentation focused on laboratory compression profile testing generated for NWSSP Procurement Services 2022/23 contract and compared results to previous contract exercises.
The test results again identified quality issues with garments supplied in the market, however in general there are positive trends in quality over the years SMTL have been testing compression products for the Welsh NHS.
The presentation concluded with an overview of stiffness testing and questions the assumption that flat knit products have a higher stiffness index compared to circular knit garments.
Expansion of SMTL services into new satellite laboratory
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SMTL IP-5 Satellite Laboratory
SMTL have been based at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend for over 22 years. The facility has served SMTL well for many years, however due to unprecedented demand on testing services during the pandemic it was evident that additional capacity was required to manage the extra work whilst maintaining the UKAS accredited high level of service.
NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership (NWSSP) have supported SMTL to expand its services by purchasing new equipment and establishing a new testing laboratory at Imperial Park (IP-5) in Newport. The new SMTL IP-5 satellite laboratory will complement the current SMTL facility at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend, and will enable SMTL to test medical devices such as surgical gowns, medical masks and respirators for the Welsh NHS, UK Health Service and the medical device and PPE industry.
The SMTL IP-5 satellite laboratory is in the final stages of preparation and will be operational in Summer 2022.
SMTL Staff News - May 2023
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The biological testing department is delighted to welcome Hannah Francis to the team.
Hannah initially started with the biological department in November through an agency and joined the team on a permanent basis in May bringing the department back up to its full complement of staff. Hannah joined us after completing her masters in Medical Microbiology at Manchester and has previously worked in Fillcare, Pontyclun.
We would like to extend a warm welcome to Hannah.
Revision of BS 661210 Graduated Compression Garments
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BS 661210:2018 +A1 2022 Graduated compression hosiery, anti-embolism hosiery and graduated support hosiery.
BS 661210 has been re-issued with an addendum that addresses the performance requirements of compression garments following washing.
Following the publication of BS 661210 in 2018, SMTL identified an anomaly in the post-washing compression requirements. When tested following washing, some anti-embolism compression garments could fail post-washed pressure requirements (Section 3.10), but the resulting pressures would be in compliance with pre-washing requirements (Section 3.9 Table 2). The pre-washing pressure requirements are based on the Sigel compression profile which is widely recognised as being the optimum profile for venous return, and therefore clinically beneficial and acceptable for patients. This was an unnecessary restriction on manufacturers and has no clinical benefit for users and patients.
The newly published BS 661210:2018 +A1 2022 resolves the anomaly where the compression profile requirements are the same regardless of testing pre or post-washing. This change is also applicable for the other types of hosiery in BS 661210 namely graduated compression and graduated support hosiery.
