Healthcare News Article

Queen Alexandra Hospital - Portsmouth

The re-development of Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth was a tremendous opportunity for Panaz Healthcare Division to work with the Trust, the Architects and Carillion Health in the provision of a unique drapery design for cubicles, windows and showers.

Taking a brief from BDP (Winchester), the Panaz design studio developed the theme for an exclusive cubicle drapery panel to feature throughout the hospital. The vision was to reflect the essence of Portsmouth in a collage of lively images. The result was a rainbow of vibrant colours with playful picture book impressions of the seaside with sealife, beach huts, sailing boats, kites, sand and sunshine. In situ, as illustrated, the draperies are lively, welcoming and friendly and mitigate the austere environment which can be created by medical equipment and white coats. Over the past two decades, HCAI (Healthcare Acquired Infection) has presented a significant challenge. The impact on such infections on patient safety and wellbeing and the distress to both patients and their families is compounded by the financial cost to the NHS in terms of service delivery. Of course, these costs are not isolated to the hospital alone but to the extended network of healthcare services with prolonged inpatient stay, further treatments, outpatient consultations and subsequent visits to GPs and community care. It is a disturbing statistic that approximately 5,000 people die each year from HCAI. The routes to infection are multiple and diverse and it is difficult to quantify the role of the environment in the transfer of infection. Some report that 19 percent of contamination may be attributable to the environment, others as much as 40 percent. The greatest risk for patients is contamination in the immediate vicinity of the patient such as bed rails, lockers, infusion pumps, draperies, etc. Ever mindful of the challenges presented by HCAI, Panaz work to provide innovative product to the healthcare market and have recently launched Shield Plus. This drapery fabric is the latest addition to the Panaz anti-microbial armoury. It is a high quality, 100% flame retardant polyester fabric protected by Maedical TM, a unique, non-leaching and non-silver antimicrobial which has been proved effective against the broadest spectrum of bacteria and is resilient to the harshest laundry protocols whilst remaining bonded and durable for the life of the fabric. Exclusive to Panaz, Maedical TM has been tested and approved for effectiveness by the Pasteur Institute under a EU funded programme, FLEXIFUNBAR contract no. 505864 IP-SME-FP6/nnFor further information relating to Shield Plus please contact Panaz on 01282 696969 or email kirsty.moniz@panaz.co.uk.