Decontamination equipment can be a bit of a minefield when you consider equipment selection, regulations, guidelines, testing etc. These issues are easily overcome with careful consideration and a little planning.
Our team of specialist decontamination engineers have a wealth of product knowledge to help guide you through the products available and help you make informed decisions. We advise of all ongoing costs as well as the initial outlay. Be warned seemingly cheap decontamination equipment can prove much more costly in the long run; you need information on all associated costs to make an informed choice.
Our All Inclusive Rental Packages (available on the Kronos Autoclaves and HMCE CleanOne2) offer truly ‘hassle free’ equipment at a fixed monthly cost, we will schedule all planned preventative maintenance, testing and validation for you to ensure that your equipment is maintained and tested in line with HTM0105.
Alternatively, if you prefer to purchase the equipment we have tailored service contracts for all decontamination equipment which include all testing, validation and servicing. Again we will schedule all maintenance and testing so this is one less thing for you to organise in house.
It is important that you have your equipment tested and validated in line with CQC outcome 11 and HTM01-05.
You must have all pressure vessels (compressors and autoclaves) pressure vessel inspected on an annual basis. This is a legal requirement so ensure you have the relevant certification to evidence that the equipment has had a pressure vessel inspection by a competent person.
Autoclave and washer disinfectors must be validated in accordance with manufacturer recommendations to meet HTM and CQC requirements. Washer disinfectors require annual validation, validation intervals for autoclaves vary from one manufacturer to another and also depend on how many cycles per annum you run. For more information on how often you should validate your autoclave give our friendly service desk a call.
So how can choosing the right decontamination equipment help to safe guard your staff and patients and improve productivity.
There has been much controversy over the use of washer disinfectors as opposed to manual cleaning, at one point it was thought washer disinfectors would become an essential requirement, but it would seem that the DH have remained sat on the fence as regards to this.
Dentists and nurses alike frequently ask me if they need a washer disinfector and I tend to say that yes I think washer disinfectors are an essential piece of decontamination equipment, especially when it comes to safe guarding staff and patients. Manual cleaning has its place, but how can you automate the process and guarantee the quality of your cleaning procedures? Manual cleaning also leaves your staff at risk of sharps injuries. In a day and age where health and safety has literally gone mad, I would like to think I had implemented everything I could to protect my staff (and myself from any avoidable claims!). The bottom line …I think where we have an opportunity to implement automated procedures that can be validated, we should. That said this doesn’t mean you have to invest a fortune in an ultrasonic bath and washer disinfector, take a look at the HMCE CleanOne2 which is a fully automated ultrasonic washer disinfector and saves the cost of buying, maintaining and testing two separate items of equipment.
Decontamination equipment doesn’t have to cause you a headache. Select the right equipment and a company you can trust and decontamination equipment can be hassle free.
Performance, reliability and the costs of ongoing maintenance and testing should be top on your agenda. Here at DB Dental our product offering is kept to a minimum, purely because we only offer products we truly believe in. We offer the Kronos autoclave range, as well as the Statim range of cassette type autoclaves. Both offer something completely different.
Whether you intend to give your existing surgery a bit of a facelift or are planning a new practice or surgery from scratch, we are here to help.
We understand that planning and designing can be a headache and very costly if you involve a designer in the planning stage and then another company to carry out the installation works. This is why we offer a free of charge design service; we care just as much about your project as you so let us guide you through the process to ensure you get the most out of your surgery.
When planning a surgery you have to consider every element… lighting, seating, consultation, suction, flooring and the list goes on.
For instance…Have you considered how the lighting in a room affects you on a day to basis?
If the operating light is the only source of light in your surgery your eyes will quickly become exhausted because the eyes are constantly forced to adapt to different lighting. If the eyes are forced to adapt between the brightly lit oral cavity and the instrument tray, the contrast in light often causes headaches. This is where ambient lighting can help. Find out more about our range of D-Tec colour corrective lighting solutions.
Dentist and nurses stools are also something that we think should be more than just an afterthought. We offer a range of dentist and nurses stools from a range of industry recognised manufacturers including A-dec, Belmont, Murray and the ergonomically renowned Support Stools.
If your surgery is large enough you may want to consider an area for consultation. Our cabinet fitters can manufacture a bespoke consultation desk specifically designed for your surgery which provides a nice area for the dentists to discuss findings and treatment plans with patients.
We have already touched on the importance of ergonomics. The car industry invests millions into researching the ergonomics of driving, and I am sure you will agree, you spend more time working with your dental chair than you do driving your car so don’t undervalue the importance of ergonomics.
We offer a range of equipment from industry recognised manufacturers such as A-dec, Belmont, Heka and Planmeca all of which offer different user benefits and ergonomic advantages. Our bespoke medical cabinetry is manufactured from sheet to your exact specification which means the designed can be tailored to your exact needs. The options really are endless and must be considered carefully to ensure optimum working procedures.
I would urge anyone considering to new equipment to take 2 hours out to visit the showrooms and really get to grips with the equipment, this way you can be sure the equipment and specification will work for you.
Your surgery needs to work for you. It should be designed around the shape of the room, the type of treatments you offer and your individual working routines. At the design stage you should evaluate your requirements and discuss them with your designer. This information will be used to design a surgery tailored to your needs and to select an equipment specification that is suitable for the type of procedures you undertake.
Careful consideration should be given to the cabinetry layout in your surgery. We advise customers think of their working positions and the ergonomics of their procedures. When designing a new surgery or refurbishing an existing surgery it is an ideal time to optimise working procedures and enhance the ergonomics of the room and equipment.
We recognise that no dental supplier can offer a truly tailor-made design service unless they can provide equipment to suit everyone. One of our unique benefits is the broad range of dental equipment at our disposal so you can feel confident that any products we recommend we do so because we whole heartedly believe they are ideal for your needs and reflective of your budget.
Let our accredited engineers look after you equipment repairs and preventative maintenance.
In the past dentists have shied away from preventative maintenance contracts, however there has been a real turnaround over the last couple of years and in fact the majority of our clients now invest in some form of preventative maintenance. When I asked our clients why they preferred a planned preventative maintenance contract they said that they liked:
The peace of mind that all their equipment had been maintained in line with CQC outcome 11.
The monthly payment option, this allowed them to spread the costs of preventative and reactive maintenance across the year which made budgeting far easier and eliminated unpredictable breakdown call costs.
The fact that it reduced equipment breakdowns throughout the year.
Planned preventative maintenance, effective in house maintenance and training on how to perform trouble shooting for common problems can dramatically reduce downtime and the costs of breakdowns. We can offer all of the above as part of our service contracts and of course we will help you every step of the way to ensure your practice equipment is maintained and running efficiently … we will even help you identify problematic equipment which has recurrent problems.
Ask yourself … how much are unforeseen breakdown calls costing you?
Help your staff learn how to solve simple faults in house before calling an engineer.
Sometimes faults are easily rectified without the need for an engineer’s visit. In the interests of saving time and money it makes sense to ensure your staff have the appropriate training to allow them to make some preliminary checks prior to calling for an engineer.
We offer lunchtime training sessions to run through some common problems and troubleshooting techniques with all the team, we also leave them with a helpful troubleshooting guide to keep in each surgery which is then on hand to guide them through the checks that should be made prior to calling an engineer.
It is also important to implement an effective breakdown call reporting procedure which will ensure that our office team have all the information they need in order to diagnose a fault and provide you with technical advice or ensure the engineer has the correct parts to rectify the fault within one visit to site.
Here’s a quick step guide to reporting faults effectively:
Go to the appropriate section in the handbook and ensure you have carried out all the checks listed.
Make a note of the type of equipment, manufacturer, model and a brief description of faults.
Ring DB Dental 01484 401015 tell the service team the description of the fault, manufacturer and model of equipment that is not working. Tell them which checks you have carried out, this may help the technician diagnose the problem and help him assess which parts may be needed.
Our service team will book the call with your local engineer (usually the same day, if not the next working day)
Record all equipment faults, engineer calls and downtime to help you assess any recurrent problems or problematic equipment.
