At Western House Consulting Rooms our qualified chiropodist, Dawn Turton, is registered with the Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) and follows strict regulations regarding hygiene and sterilisation within the clinic at all times.
In line with regulation, instruments used at Western House in Barnsley during treatment undergo a full process of decontamination which entails a combination of cleaning, disinfection and sterilisation in an autoclave to render a reusable item safe for further use. An autoclave is a type of sterilisation device used to kill bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores on medical and laboratory instruments using high-pressure saturated steam. These standards are laid out by the Health Care Professions Council regulatory body.
A separate set of sealed sterilised instruments (opened in front of you) are used on each patient being treated. After each day of practice, every tool/instrument that can be sterilised goes through the following procedure and is packed into an individual sterile pouch. Disposable blades and single use instruments go directly into a special sharps waste container and are collected to be destroyed.
We ensure the instruments we use at Western House are safe and fit for the intended purpose, eliminating the risk of blood borne viruses/bacteria from cross contamination.
To do this we use the following process to decontaminate our instruments:
- All reusable instruments are individually cleaned and scrubbed.
- These instruments are then processed in an ultrasonic cleaning bath before being packed in sealed autoclave pouches.
- The pouched instruments are then placed in our Prestige Medical Vacuum autoclave and sterilised at high pressure at temperature of 134 degrees centigrade, this is a timed process. A vacuum autoclave removes air from the sterilisation chamber before introducing steam. This ensures that steam can penetrate all surfaces - even inside hollow or wrapped instruments – for more effective sterilisation compared to non-vacuum (gravity) autoclaves.
- The vacuum pump in the autoclave removes moisture to dry the instruments thoroughly.
At Western House in Barnsley, our Chiropodist uses a separate sterilising room to safeguard patients and clinicians. Our autoclave meets the Pressure Systems Safety Regulations (2000) and is serviced annually by a Prestige Medical engineer to ensure that the machine continues to meet all necessary requirements and the results of these tests are held within the clinic.
If the instruments are not used within a set period of time then they undergo the decontamination process again.
It is important to us here at Western House Consulting Rooms that we treat our patients with the utmost care keeping them safe from harm in every possible way.
To book a chiropody appointment with Dawn Turton contact us on (01226) 730249.
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