, including MRSA
and C-Difficile
. The results are being presented to the Reducing Healthcare Acquired Infections conference in London today. The conference aims to “examine why mistakes continue to be made” in patient safety.Microbiologist Stephen Falder presented the results of a new technology trial, which comes at a time when the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is under pressure to combat superbugs, as well as save money. The Health Service is increasingly looking to new technologies instead of relying on traditional cleaning practices that have been in use since the Second World War.
Bleach and alcohol-based cleaning agents are currently the “Gold Standard” in NHS hospitals, but there have been calls by healthcare professionals to embrace new technologies which have proven to be more effective in previous trials.
At St Bart’s, a new cleaning agent called Byotrol was used to coat a room in a fine mist. The procedure, known as fogging, is much more comprehensive than a mop and cloth and is traditionally used in decontamination efforts. The trial revealed that a Byotrol fog is quicker, more effective and safer than current fogging procedures – leading to calls for it to be adopted across the NHS.
Dr Art T Tucker, Principal Clinical Scientist at St. Bart’s and the London hospitals welcomed the results of the trial, claiming:
"The process of deploying this technology into an Acute Hospital setting proved entirely straightforward. Cold fogging proceeded effectively with no disruption to ward functioning.”
He added that the procedure was “practical and effective” and said that such technology “may be of specific value in the control of contamination during outbreaks.”
Byotrol, which was invented by Manchester-based scientist Stephen Falder, has previously been used to in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, where whole houses had to be disinfected.
The technology has since been used in US hospitals, where it has kept wards free of superbugs for over three years. Byotrol also showed remarkable results in the largest ever UK trial of infection control at the Manchester Royal Infirmary last year, overseen by Dr Andy Dodgson found that Byotrol was over 30 per cent more effective than NHS “gold standard” bleach in reducing MRSA on the wards.
Stephen Falder hopes that the fogging technology, which allows Byotrol to be rapidly and safely deployed in a room or a ward, will lead to a step change in the way hospitals are cleaned.
“The way hospitals are currently cleaned would be recognisable to our grandparents’ generation.
“Bleach, which is the staple of NHS cleaning regimes, has several major drawbacks. It damages equipment and stops working as soon as it is dry.
“Byotrol is completely different. It is cheaper, safer, greener and has constantly proved to be more effective than either bleach or alcohol. Crucially, it continues to protect a surface for days after application, whereas traditional cleaning agents stop working after a few minutes.”
Falder, who hosted a masterclass for infection control specialists at the conference, told the audience of doctors, professors and healthcare managers that: “Fogging a room is currently seen as a dramatic step. Patients can be unnerved by the sight of people in protective suits, decontaminating a room.
“However, because Byotrol is so safe, there is no need for such measures and a room, or an entire ward, can be cleaned incredibly quickly and effectively."
As a result of calls for new technology to be used in the fight against superbugs, a competition (called Smart solutions) was designed to highlight where the NHS could learn from other areas where microbes are regularly successfully controlled.
Specialist Decontamination business Chemspec won the competition by deploying a fogging apparatus coupled with specially formulated Byotrol treatment that is safe to use but deadly to infectious bugs and superbugs . The winner’s technology was used in a supervised trial in St Bartholomew’s Hospital.
In the study, which took place over 12 weeks, 120 rooms that required extensive disinfection before patient reoccupation were fogged with the Byotrol, instead of corrosive/toxic alternatives commonly used. The rooms were checked by microbiologists in at least six ‘likely contamination’ points using growth media or ATP meters, that are designed to identify the presence of any living organism. After a single treatment with the fogging technique there was an 88% reduction in the total number of microbes found (TVC) and significantly no C difficile bacteria were found in any of the fogged rooms. The process took no more than 1 hour per room so was a practical and inexpensive way of reducing risks with minimum disruption.
Byotrol has previously received substantial coverage for its ability to slash dramatically the infection rates in hospitals, and it is currently under consideration by the NHS.
Since Monroe Hospital in Indiana began using the new cleaning product there has not been a single case of MRSA or C-Difficile infection. James Ballard, an Infection Preventionist at Monroe Hospital, says that the revolutionary new Byotrol cleaning product has now become “the cornerstone of the Infection Prevention Program.”
Byotrol cleaning products not only kill micro-organisms, but its polymer structure actually prevents them from surviving on surfaces or skin at all, long after it is first applied. In contrast, traditional cleaning products stop working once dry. This means that focus can shift from cleaning infected areas to preventing them from becoming infected in the first place.
Byotrol have calculated, with the help of former Health Minister Lord Warner, that a full –scale adoption of their technology, a water-based product that prevents bacteria and viruses from surviving on surfaces for several days, could save the NHS around £100,000,000 per year.
By using Byotrol instead of bleach and alcohol:
• The NHS could reduce the current £250 million annual spend on replacing equipment damaged by conventional cleaners.
• Dramatically reduce the cost of infection; Byotrol haskept Moroe Hospital (Indiaina, US) free of superbugs for the last 4 years. Byotrol trials in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary showed a 50 per cent reduction in post-surgical MRSA. Each prevented case saved an estimated £2000. Each 1000 infections prevented could save £2 million.
• Byotrol technology is approximately 50% less expensive than current NHS alcohol-based cleaning products. The NHS could save 50 per cent in costs of hand-hygiene, through no longer using alcohol-based products.
• The storage of bleach and alcohol products is expensive, as they are both hazardous materials. Byotrol requires no special storage or training and as such would save the NHS around £20 million in transport costs and £2 million in storage costs.
The above statements are based on reducing current NHS spending in such areas by a10%.
The UK's coalition government has indicated its desire to achieve “more for less". At present, the NHS spends millions upon millions of pounds on old-fashioned alcohol and bleach-based cleaners.
