Leading manufacturer of plumbing and heating products Pegler Yorkshire supports a recent initiative by a leading healthcare specialist promoting the use of antimicrobial copper in healthcare establishments.

Michael Oko – ENT Consultant and Clinical Lead, and Department of Health Advisor on Obstructive Sleep Apnoea – has championed the replacement of key high-touch surfaces with antimicrobial copper equivalents in a project at Lincolnshire’s Pilgrim Hospital. Initially, taps, bed rails, cabinet handles, chair arms, grab rails, hand rails, light switches and coat hooks were commissioned and with these now installed, his intention is to replace more items and roll out the copper upgrade throughout the hospital.

“Studies into the effectiveness of copper show greater than 80% less contamination on copper surfaces than non-copper equivalents. It therefore proves how effective copper can be in addressing the problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria. We are proud to support projects like this knowing that we are helping to reduce the number of healthcare associated infections in our hospitals,” said Phill Jackson Marketing & Business Development Director Pegler Yorkshire.

Using the company’s expertise and knowledge gained through various scientific studies, and inline with the Health Protection Agency (HPA), Pegler Yorkshire has developed a range of Antimicrobial Copper Taps that are capable of continuously killing pathogenic microbes even in between cleans.

“We continually engineer new and innovative products to ensure they are in line with, and often surpass industry standards and this is reflected in the design of our Antimicrobial Copper Tap range,” said Phill.

“Replacing the surfaces most often touched by staff, patients and visitors with antimicrobial copper equivalents will help reduce the risk of infections spreading via these surfaces," said Mr Oko. "It can be used as an adjunct to other infection control measures – such as regular hand washing and surface cleaning and disinfecting – to improve patient safety.

“Reducing the rate of infections means a substantial reduction in a patient’s length of stay, a reduction in their mortality risk and a reduction in overall treatment costs. Antimicrobial copper surfaces make sense from a patient safety point of view as well as a financial one.”

Andrew Cross director at ACT Surfaces who worked on the Pilgrim project explained: “In any clinical environment, certain surfaces will be touched maybe hundreds of times, by dozens of people, every day and these are the key touch surfaces to identify as they will offer the most benefit when replaced with antimicrobial copper equivalents.

“ACT Surfaces works with clinical teams - from cleaner to consultant - to identify the ‘problem’ touch surfaces in a given facility; upgrading these to antimicrobial copper reduces the infection risk to patients and yields significant clinical savings. For this project, we invited Brass Age in Norwich to fabricate & supply the bespoke items like the bed rails, grab rails and over-bed table from their VETOBAC Antimicrobial Copper range and to manage the project’s completion. The range of Antimicrobial Copper taps from respected industry professionals Pegler Yorkshire supports this initiative and helps drives the campaign for copper touch surfaces forwards, in both NHS healthcare as well as other medical establishments across the UK.”

Further information about the anti-microbial properties of Copper can be found visiting www.antimicrobialcopper.org

Information regarding Pegler Yorkshire and its products can be found by visiting www.pegleryorkshire.co.uk