Altnagelvin is only the second UK hospital to use a pneumatic waste system. Andy Pearson reveals why other new healthcare schemes are sure to follow

The numbers are staggering. For every bed in every ward in every UK hospital, 2 tonnes of dirty laundry and 1.4 tonnes of domestic waste are produced every year.

The task for those charged with running a hospital is to clear this waste from wards as quickly and efficiently as possible. “In hospital design, the speedy removal of laundry and domestic waste is essential in minimising the risk of infection spreading,” explains Phil Nedin, an Arup director and leader of the consultancy’s global healthcare executive.

Until now, the job of trundling tonnes of domestic waste or soiled laundry from ward to compactor or hospital laundry has been the hospital porters’ job, but all that is set to change. At Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, Arup is about to install a pneumatic system. It will automatically whisk domestic waste and soiled laundry away direct from the ward, transport it at speeds of up to 100 km/h, and deposit it in a waste compactor or laundry store. All this, achieved in a matter of seconds, using nothing but air.

The system is exactly the same as those used by supermarkets to transfer money from the tills to a secure area, but designed on a larger scale.

Pneumatic systems have been shifting waste in North American hospitals for more than 10 years, but Nedin says this is only the second time this type of system has been used in a UK hospital.

A key driver for choosing this system is infection control – particularly with the spread of drug-resistant super-bugs. By creating the facility for staff to dispose of waste at source, the system does away with the clutter of accumulated rubbish and reduces the space needed for storage, says Nedin. “And reducing the amount of rubbish stored helps to minimise the opportunity for the spread of infection,” he adds.

As well as helping to keep the wards infection free, Nedin hopes the pneumatic system will engender an ethos of cleanliness in the hospital. “It will be important for staff to see that by investing in a waste-disposal system, the management are serious about managing infection control,” he explains.

Another driver in deciding to consider this system was Arup’s use of a logistics team to plan the movement of patients and goods around the hospital (see the box on logistics specialists, below).

By allowing operatives on the wards to dispose of waste at source, the system also does away with the need for porters to trolley waste around the hospital, saving on trolley and people movement. “It will also help limit trolley damage to walls and doors,” says Nedin. “Once you take all these issues into account, including the saving on porterage, there is a definite business case for the pneumatic system.”

Nedin says that the system’s use of large, 400 mm diameter bore pipes means that it has to be incorporated into the hospital as part of its building services strategy right from the outset. Co-ordination is critical, he stresses, particularly when the pipes change direction. “The turning radii for these pipes is about two-and-a-half times the radius – 500 mm,” he says.

According to Graham Hammond, technical manager at vacuum system supplier Hardell International, another advantage of the system is that it is self-cleaning: “The high-speed air keeps the chutes and pipes clean and dry,” he says.

At Altnagelvin, the pneumatic system will serve a 10-storey, L-shaped existing tower block and a new-build area, as part of a £104m refurbishment and extension of the hospital. The acute hospital will contain over 480 beds located in 20 wards.

How dirty laundry and domestic waste are removed from the wards

1 Fans: High-powered centrifugal fans mounted on concrete-filled inertia bases create the airflow to pull the waste and linen through the system’s large-bore pipework at speeds up to 100 km/h

2 Variable frequency drive: Controls the fan motor speed. Set points allow for maximum efficiency while transporting material through the system

3 Control panel: A central control panel continuously monitors the system status, including the air velocity, and ensures the waste is distributed on a first-in first-out basis

4 Waste collector: Cyclones separate the rubbish/linen from the airstream and regulate the flow of waste to compactors and containers ready for disposal. Should the compactor become full, the system will shut down and an alarm sound. As an alternative to a compactor an incinerator could be installed

5 Scrubbers: Wet scrubbers connected to the fans clean the conveying air before it is discharged into the environment

6 Linen Collector: Soiled linen is delivered here ready for sorting

7 Loading station: Waste is bagged up and then placed in a loading station. The loading stations control access to the pneumatic conveying system to ensure the operative is isolated from the pneumatic system. The stations have an airlock so waste can be loaded while the system is running

8 Crossover: Separate pipes are used for waste and linen. However, should a fan on either system fail, the crossover pipe enables the remaining fan to run both systems

Healthcare in focus

For more information on healthcare issues and projects visit M&E – The Building Services Event. Presented by BSj and Electrical and Mechanical Contractor, it takes place on 23–24 November at Earls Court, London.

The two-day event is devoted to innovation in the building services sector and includes seminars, conferences and exhibitions and the latest examples of off-site manufacturing. There will also be breakfast briefings, lunchtime round table discussions and a training academy with CPD-accredited seminars.

A major new healthcare scheme, the Evelina Children’s Hospital, will be showcased by the project’s client and design team – watch out for BSj features in the run-up to the event

For more information, log on to the website www.buildingservicesevent.com

How healthcare projects are incorporating logistics specialists

Supermarket operators have long understood the importance of logistics in controlling the movement of goods between producer, warehouse and store – and the movement of products around the store. Now healthcare providers are wising up to the benefits logistics can bring to their operations. “Logistics are increasingly integral to healthcare organisations,” says Darren Briggs, senior logistics consultant at Arup.

Working together with healthcare planners and transport engineers, the logistics engineers are starting to make a significant contribution to the design of large healthcare facilites. “They help organisations keep people and products moving efficiently and add the flexibility to accommodate change,” explains Briggs.

Arup’s logistics office is working with several PFI contractors, including Skanska, for the first time. “We were approached by Skanska, who wanted us to look at the logistics for the movement of vehicles, people and goods throughout a PFI scheme,” says Briggs.

Briggs says some of the key areas to be considered include the delivery, storage, quality control, distribution and management of drugs around a busy hospital. The movement of food is another key area, with the current trend towards a central food preparation and refrigeration area and food then re-heated on the ward.

Another critical service in hospitals is the removal of waste – both domestic waste and soiled laundry – as described above. The Arup logistics team were behind the decision to install a pneumatic system at Altnagelvin Hospital, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, which pipes the waste and soiled laundry straight from the ward to storage areas in the basement, rather than using porters with trolleys for the same task.

Source

Building Sustainable Design