Swabsafe™ Supports Swab Management At Warrington And Halton Teaching Hospitals

Central Medical Supplies (CMS) has provided its Swabsafe™ swab management system to the theatre unit based at the Captain Sir Tom Moore (CSTM) Building at Halton Hospital.  The hospital is part of Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (WHH).

Developed by CMS, Swabsafe™ is designed to aid accurate swab counting and make swab weighing easier, for blood loss calculation.  It also helps eliminate the risk posed to operating theatre staff by the unnecessary handling of contaminated swabs.

Commenting on using Swabsafe™, Mark Rigby, Operating Theatre Matron at WHH, says: “We currently have 22 operating theatres and staff specialising in elective orthopaedics, elective surgery, ENT, urology, breast, ophthalmic, emergency and trauma. We found it a simple transition to move over to using the Swabsafe™ system and it has been vital to the role of counting swabs post-surgery.”

Swabsafe™ containers come in three sizes – small, medium and large – and each is divided into five sections. The container’s transparent design allows clinicians to visually keep track of all the consumables used during an operation, while at the same time minimising the re-handling of healthcare waste. A scrub practitioner can directly discard each dirty swab into an individual section of the Swabsafe™ container. Once all five sections are used, a swab-tie is placed into the container and the fully-fitted lid is then secured.  When the lid is applied securely to a full container, it traps air borne bacteria and eliminates evaporation from the swabs.  Mobile stands are also available, along with compatible electronic weighing scales.

Swabsafe™ is safe, hygienic, easy to use and complies with Health and Safety requirements.  It is also the only swab management system that meets with the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) guidelines.

Environmentally friendly, Swabsafe™ is produced entirely from recycled post-consumer plastic (rPET).  In an independent audit, its current production was deemed to be as sustainable as it can potentially be.  The audit was carried out as part of an AMCASH project, which is a European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) initiative.

For more information on Swabsafe™ contact Tracey Pavier-Grant, Sales & Marketing Director at Central Medical Supplies, on 01538 392 596, email tracey@centralmedical.co.uk or visit www.centralmedical.co.uk