Working in partnership with Island-based design and manufacture company Inflight Peripherals Limited (IFPL), the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has designed a new innovative compact personal protective equipment (PPE) station to help support busy staff to meet important infection prevention and control measures.
Infection prevention and control (IPC) is essential to make sure that the people who use healthcare services receive safe and effective care. It is part of everyday practice and is applied consistently by everyone working directly with patients – even before the COVID pandemic.
Although the need for a functional PPE station became more urgent during the pandemic, the Trust’s IPC Team had been looking to develop a long-term solution to support staff.
The new stations contain bespoke compartments for gloves, aprons, patient notes, hand gel and bags for soiled linen. The prototypes were originally trialled by staff on Appley Ward for 5 months to help identify any refinements that were needed.
Karen Robinson, Head of Infection, Prevention Control said:
“The new PPE stations are a fantastic, innovative solution to better protect patients and health workers from being exposed to infections.
“When the pandemic hit the need for a bespoke solution became even more apparent. The new PPE stations are now on every ward and have already proved to be invaluable to our staff. A big thank you to the team at IFPL for working with us to help design our new PPE stations.”
Sam Blakely, Lead Designer at IFPL worked with the Trust to develop a design that was compact, lightweight and space-efficient. Sam said:
“We really enjoyed working with the NHS team to develop a product that met all the needs of staff on the wards. Over the course of a year, we created 3 prototypes to perfect the final product.
“It was important that the final design was mobile, sturdy, visible, lightweight, and not present a ligature risk.”
Karen Caramat, Appley Ward Sister, says:
“We previously used metal trolleys and there was not enough space or compartments to keep all the items in one place. The new PPE stations are now on every ward and have already proved to be invaluable to our staff and have everything we need in one place and helps us to be much more efficient.”
