SUPPLEMENT
INTERVIEW
Dr. Phillip Norville Clinical & Scientific Director – GAMA Healthcare
“Prevention is better than cure… especially when there is no cure”
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r. Phillip Norville has over 10 years’ experience working with healthcare organisations, helping improve and implement effective infection prevention solutions. Phil has a PhD in microbiology from the University of Cardiff and a Master of Science in infection prevention and control from the University of Dundee. He is an honorary lecturer at Cardiff University, where he supervises both PhD and post-doctoral research, focusing on areas including environmental contamination, microbial biofilm formation and antimicrobial surfaces. As Clinical & Scientific Director for GAMA Healthcare, Phil collaborates with other experts to drive innovation in the field of infection prevention. He leads a team of experienced infection preventionists, making sure GAMA’s offering is clinically proven and industry-leading.
Why is infection prevention and control (IPC) so important? Prevention is always better than cure… especially if there is no cure (in this case of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), this means antibiotics). This is a message I have consistently promoted in my time at GAMA. We’re seeing an increasing threat from antimicrobial resistance (AMR), where microorganisms develop resistance to various antibiotics, leaving limited treatment options for treating certain infections. IPC measures can play a vital role in reducing the risk posed by HAIs caused by antibiotic-resistant organisms. Preventing these infections can help mitigate the risk posed by AMR infections. There’s a significant body of evidence demonstrating that good IPC measures reduce and prevent the risk of patients acquiring HAIs. HAIs cause increased morbidity and mortality, resulting in prolonged patient stay and in-
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INNOVATION IS A HUGE PART OF GAMA’S CULTURE – REDIROOM IS A PRIME EXAMPLE OF THAT. IT PROVIDES A NOVEL WAY TO TACKLE THE ISSUE OF PATIENT ISOLATION. HEALTHCARE FACILITIES ARE FREQUENTLY STRETCHED BY A LACK OF PATIENT ISOLATION CAPACITY.
creased treatment costs. In England alone, the financial burden of HAIs to the National Health Service (NHS) is estimated to be £2.7 billion a year. Good hand hygiene, environmental decontamination and patient decolonisation are all excellent examples of how IPC measures can reduce the risk of patients acquiring HAIs in healthcare settings.
What’s the first thing we need to know about infection prevention? IPC is a complex topic that’s constantly evolving. It’s difficult to pin it down to a single thing. One of the most important issues right now is maintaining some of the good habits established in light of the COVID pandemic. Things like frequent hand washing and use of hand sanitiser, good environmental hygiene (use of wipes or sprays to clean and disinfect surfaces), respecting social distancing guidelines
INTERVIEW
and the use of face masks can prevent transmission of microorganisms and reduce infections.
You mentioned good environmental hygiene there. We’ve heard a lot about hand hygiene, social distancing, and masks throughout the COVID pandemic, but what role does the environment play in transmitting infection? Surface disinfection is a cornerstone of infection prevention. It’s not just COVID; the link between the environment and HAIs is well established. We know microorganisms (bacteria, viruses and fungi) can survive in the environment for prolonged periods of time and can be transferred to the hands of healthcare staff and patients (potentially spreading HAIs). Environmental decontamination reduces the number of microorganisms in the environment through physical removal and the killing action of disinfectants, which can reduce the risk of infection from these microorganisms.
How does GAMA Healthcare approach IPC differently to other companies? I’ve always viewed GAMA as being an infection prevention & control (IPC) solutions company, providing solutions that overcome IPC problems. For example, Clinell Universal Wipes were the first wipes to combine cleaning & disinfection into a single step, replacing the need for two separate processes and products. No other companies were looking at IPC through that lens of saving end-users time and increasing compliance. Overall, I think a combination of different elements set GAMA apart. GAMA is an infection prevention solutions company first and foremost. Our primary focus is always on overcoming IPC problems. Product development is a huge part of that; our state-of-the-art Research and Development (R&D) facility in Halifax allows the GAMA R&D team to dedicate time and resources to developing products with exceptional efficacy (which microorganism the products are effective against), material compatibility and skin safety. On top of developing the right products, we need to support their implementation and make sure they’re used correctly. All these elements
IPC IS A COMPLEX TOPIC THAT’S CONSTANTLY EVOLVING. IT’S DIFFICULT TO PIN IT DOWN TO A SINGLE THING. ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES RIGHT NOW IS MAINTAINING SOME OF THE GOOD HABITS ESTABLISHED IN LIGHT OF THE COVID PANDEMIC.
are supported by an industry-leading educational training and support offer. Innovation is a huge part of GAMA’s culture – Rediroom is a prime example of that. It provides a novel way to tackle the issue of patient isolation. Healthcare facilities are frequently stretched by a lack of patient isolation capacity. This was true for a long time but was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Rediroom starts as a mobile PPE cart that can be deployed into an isolation room in under 5 minutes. It’s designed for contact and droplet precautions and employs a HEPA and carbon filter to filter infectious air. We worked in collaboration with clinicians to make sure it would easily fit into their everyday practice – turning that initial innovation into something that can improve IPC practice in real hospitals.
About GAMA Healthcare GAMA Healthcare is at the forefront of infection prevention technology, driving scientific innovation in surface disinfection and skin hygiene products. Their Clinell Universal Wipes are the NHS’ number 1 most used disinfectant wipe, trusted by 9 out of 10 NHS hospitals to help safeguard patients and healthcare workers from the risk of infection. GAMA Healthcare was founded in 2004 by two doctors, Dr Guy Braverman and Dr Allen Hanouka, to help save and improve lives. Together they saw a need for clinically proven infection prevention products. Today, their Clinell, Rediroom, Carell and Contiplan product ranges protect people in healthcare, businesses and homes across more than 70 countries. Find out more at www.gamahealthcare.com
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Rediroom – Instant patient isolation The importance of isolation Effective isolation is an essential part of infection prevention. A host of pathogens can spread via direct contact (typically through contaminated hands) or indirect contact (involving contaminated surfaces). Respiratory droplets are traditionally thought to spread up
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REDIROOM IS THE WORLD’S FIRST MOBILE ISOLATION ROOM.
to a two-metre radius when colonised patients cough, sneeze or talk. Without proper infection prevention measures, those infections can quickly spread through a hospital. Guidelines and public health bodies worldwide recommend isolating patients in various circumstances. Keeping patients physically
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separated helps interrupt the chain of transmission, and, in cases of droplet spread, air filtration can help reduce the spread of contamination. Isolation is a common occurrence within hospitals, with patients need isolating in the event of unexplained vomiting or diarrhoea or infection with MRSA, multi-resistant Gram-negative bacteria, viral gastroenteritis, and more. Unfortunately, there’s a worldwide shortage of isolation spaces in healthcare. Whilst the COVID-19 pandemic brought the shortage of isolation facilities into sharp focus, that shortage has existed for a long time. It will continue to pose a risk for safe patient care in the future. Rediroom is the world’s first mobile isolation room. It can be erected by one person in under 5 minutes and is suitable for the two most common types of isolation – droplet and contact precautions. Where healthcare providers once struggled to find isolation spaces for their patients, Rediroom brings isolation to them.
Smart, collaborative design The result of an 8-year collaboration between clinicians, infection prevention experts and industrial designers, Rediroom combines an array of features intended to lower the risk of infection for patients and healthcare professionals. Rediroom filters infectious air before it’s returned to the open ward. Because certain infections (including viral pathogens) can spread through respiratory droplets, Rediroom utilises our HEPA & carbon air filtration system that filters 99.995% of particles down to 0.3 micrometres (µm). That’s small enough to trap individual bacteria, fungal spores and respiratory droplets and filters more than an N95 respirator. To help stop the spread through direct contact, Rediroom features hands-free door opening for entry and exit. Strategically positioned above the entry kick panel is an integrated PPE station, reminding staff to comply with the precautions and ensuring they have all the protective equipment they need immediately to hand. Once erected, the Rediroom unit is spacious enough to allow easy patient care, similar to working in an open ward. At the same time, the Rediroom is small enough to occupy a single bed space – allowing you to increase your
THE PROBLEM IS THAT THERE IS NO EASY ISOLATION... WITH REDIROOM, YOU CAN CREATE AN EFFECTIVE ISOLATION AREA AND RETAIN THE FLEXIBILITY TO MOVE IT AROUND ANYWHERE. THERE’S NO OTHER PRODUCT ON THE MARKET THAT CAN DO THAT. DR DAVID COOKSLEY SENIOR EMERGENCY AND RETRIEVAL PHYSICIAN – ROYAL BRISBANE & WOMEN’S HOSPITAL.
isolation capacity without reducing the number of beds available.
Increasing isolation capacity The traditional way to increase isolation capacity has been to erect new buildings or to convert existing wards. Erecting new buildings is often impractical or cost-prohibitive, leading hospitals to consider converting existing open wards. Unfortunately, converting existing wards comes with its own challenges: overseeing construction and dust management within a working hospital presents a host of obstacles. To make space for individual isolation rooms, the overall number of bed spaces are often reduced, lowering hospital capacity. Rediroom allows hospitals to increase their number of isolation spaces without reducing their overall number of available beds. Healthcare organisations introducing Rediroom increased their isolation capacity by an average of 5% – with one hospital increasing their isolation capacity by 12%.
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Wiping out infection How GAMA Healthcare is changing the way we tackle antibiotic resistance and healthcare-associated infections
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n the Arab world, more than 1 in 10 acute healthcare patients has a healthcare-associated infection (HAI). HAIs cause poor patient outcomes, increase the length of hospital stays and place a huge burden on healthcare resources. With antibiotic resistance on the rise, we need to find better ways to stop the spread of infection within our hospitals.
A universal solution It’s 2004. Healthcare-associated methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are making headlines. The public worry about the spread of “superbugs,” antibiotic-resistant organisms, spreading through hospitals. Colonised patients, contaminated surfaces and
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IT’S NOT JUST STETHOSCOPES; ANY SURFACE CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT (BUT OFTEN OVERLOOKED) ROLE IN TRANSMISSION OF MICROORGANISMS.
poor hand hygiene are all implicated in recurrent outbreaks across the globe. Meanwhile, in the UK, two doctors working in the NHS notice a seemingly small problem: their stethoscopes would touch each of their patients, but there wasn’t an easy way to effectively clean them between patients on busy wards. At the time, cleaning and disinfection were two different and separate processes. You had to clean a surface first using detergent, wait for it to dry and then disinfect using alcohol or chlorine. Because of the number of steps involved, staff would often overlook one of the steps in this process in favour of other patient care. That simple observation triggered questions in the minds of doctors Guy Braverman and Al-
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len Hanouka. Was it possible to change the way cleaning and disinfection were done? Could an innovation help make things easier for healthcare professionals? Would that help protect their patients from the spread of infection?
Why surface disinfection matters It’s not just stethoscopes; any surface can play an important (but often overlooked) role in transmission of microorganisms. When healthcare workers touch surfaces in the patient’s environment, they’re just as likely to pick up harmful microorganisms on their hands than if they touched the patient directly. From there, bacteria, viruses and other pathogens can be unwittingly spread from patient to patient. Many pathogens can survive on surfaces for an extended period of time (hours, days or even months).
Clinically proven Guy and Allen soon founded GAMA Healthcare and introduced the world to their Clinell Universal Wipes. Clinell Universal Wipes were the first wipe to clean and disinfect in a single step. By combining the processes and making cleaning and disinfection easier, Guy and Allen hoped it would improve the chance of staff complying, reduce contamination in
WHEN CLINELL UNIVERSAL WIPES WERE INTRODUCED TO AN NHS TEACHING HOSPITAL, THE RATE OF MRSA ACQUISITION DROPPED BY 55%.
the environment and, in turn reduce the risk of infections spreading. Their formulation used a blend of disinfectants to provide efficacy against a broad range of microorganisms an stop organisms from forming resistance. Unlike other disinfectants, Clinell Universal Wipes were effective in dirty conditions and with very short contact times – making sure the lab-reported efficacy data would actually be reflective of real-world performance.
Infection prevention specialists Over seventeen years later, GAMA Healthcare products are now available in over 70 countries and Clinell Universal Wipes are used by 9 out 10 NHS hospitals. Clinell Universal Wipes have proven efficacy against viruses, bacteria, and fungal pathogens. They’ve been used throughout the Arab world to help fight MERS, COVID-19 and other infections. Today, with Guy and Allen still at the helm, GAMA Healthcare is a world-leading infection prevention company. They focus on innovative infection prevention solutions in surface disinfection, skin hygiene and patient isolation. Those original questions still underpin all their products: what innovations could help protect people and patients from the spread of infection?
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NEWS
At the heart of infection prevention No 1 disinfectant wipe in the UK National Health Service
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