Endoscopy Decontamination

The endoscopy decontamination unit is responsible for processing flexible endoscopes to ensure they are clean for their next use. With an estimated 10% year-on-year increase in the number of patients requiring an endoscopy procedure, driven in part by the NHS Bowel Scope Screening programme, the demand on the decontamination service is only increasing and last year the unit reprocessed over 14,500 Flexible Endoscopes.

Following the construction of the state of the art unit in 2014 the unit has worked to the highest standards and is fully compliant with both ISO 13485:2016 and JAG Standards to ensure it is operating to the highest quality standards across the country as well as being fully compliant with Health Technical Memorandum 01-06. 

The team uses T-Doc EndoTrace to ensure full traceability of all equipment that has been processed in the unit, therefore creating a trail for all of the scopes that are used on our patients. T-DOC Endo manages and documents the complex handling and reprocessing specifications of your endoscopes. Ensure accurate work procedures and get complete overview of your endoscope stock.

All staff in the unit have completed the National Decontamination Programme and completed our in-house comprehensive training programme to ensure the highest level of quality and our compliance with JAG standards. 

The Countess has recently become the reference site for ED Flow, we have six E.D.F. twin  Machines capable of processing  24  endoscopes an hour, they are subject to weekly in house testing carried out by a competent person , quarterly , and Annual Testing carried by Getinge Engineer. We also have four (F.D. 8)  Drying  Cabinets  capable of storing endoscopes at any one time, validated  for up to seven days, We also have a vac a scope packing system covering are out of hours service and weekends, we are utilising this extended  disinfected  state for up to 30 days.