‘The Derby Door’ has been designed and developed by Paul Brooks, Associate Director of Patient Experience and Facilities at Derby Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Airquee Ltd of Bristol.
It is an inflatable barrier which fits flush against walls and ceilings on hospital wards to form a complete seal. Staff members carrying out decontamination enter through a sealable entrance in the middle of the door.
The primary function of the door is to provide a safe and reliable seal around an area of a ward that needs decontaminating, eg after cases of Clostridium difficile or norovirus. From there, staff can enter and clean without putting themselves or patients as risk.
The Derby Door has been designed in the first instance to be used with the hydrogen peroxide method of decontamination, typically used by hospitals across the country.
A solution was needed because while hydrogen peroxide is very effective in an enclosed area, because of the need to protect the health and safety of patients and staff it can only be used in a room that is sealed off. Open bays mean it’s not possible to do that quickly and safely. However the door has many other uses, the ability to barrier off areas when other non patient activities are occurring such as: steam cleaning, essential maintenance works or the isolation of infected patients in areas as required on a temporary basis eg in an outbreak of pandemic flu.
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The door is made of a material that withstands typical cleaning and disinfectant products including hydrogen peroxide, ozone and all chlorine based disinfectants. The door is also available to be used for isolation during outbreaks such as Norovirus or Flu, giving the hospital that is using it the ability to cohort infectious patients together in four or six bed bays adding flexibility to base wards during these times.
Cathy Winfield, Director of Patient Experience & Chief Nurse at Derby's hospitals, said the need to isolate patients was particularly apparent during the winter when there is a rise in infectious illnesses such as flu "We know, nationally, hospitals this winter were under significant pressure because of the amount of flu and norovirus cases and the Derby Door would enable them to isolate patients."
The door has also been used in Derby during maintenance works allowing work to progress in the bay area without disturbing the ward environment outside. It takes approximately 2 minutes to position and inflate the door and has no effect on the surrounding decoration. To remove you simply deflate using the air pump provided. Once inflated the door provides an effective sealed opening and access is gained via a zipped door.
http://www.airquee.co.uk/derby-door.html