With winter's arrival comes the upsurge of infectious diseases and flu outbreaks, putting healthcare facilities on high alert. During this flu season, ensuring safety measures and maintaining facility hygiene through efficient practices is important. Radiators, often overlooked yet integral components of healthcare settings, can significantly influence the overall hygiene and safety of a facility.

Read on to explore key considerations for specifiers in healthcare facilities to make the best possible choices for all NHS and healthcare facilities.

Unique Easy Access for Regular Thorough Cleaning

Traditionally, the maintenance of radiators for healthcare environments has been a cumbersome task. Closed and largely inaccessible radiator covers posed challenges, requiring infrequent and labour-intensive cleaning efforts. These enclosures often accumulate dirt and debris, becoming potential sources of hygiene problems. Recognising the limitations of these traditional setups helps address the need for improved cleaning practices in healthcare facilities.

In healthcare settings, the need for regular and thorough cleaning is critical, especially during the winter season. Heating solutions that facilitate easy and efficient cleaning processes improve the well-being of patients and the effectiveness of the hygiene protocols of your facility.

DeepClean Radiators stand out in their design with a unique drop-down front access panel. This innovative feature allows quick and easy access to the interior of the radiator, facilitating regular and thorough cleaning. The drop-down front access ensures that every surface of the radiator guard is easily reachable, enhancing the overall hygiene standards within healthcare facilities.

Complementing the drop-down front access, the inclusion of quick-release locks further streamlines the cleaning process. These locks enable cleaners to efficiently access every part of the radiator guard without requiring additional support from Estates teams. The quick-release mechanism allows for comprehensive cleaning, addressing hygiene concerns comprehensively, making DeepClean Radiators a strategic choice for healthcare environments seeking both efficiency and effectiveness in their cleaning practices.

Built-in BioCote Anti-Microbial Protection

Conventional radiators present a potential concern in healthcare environments as they can harbour harmful microbes. The DeepClean range takes a proactive approach by incorporating advanced anti-bacterial and anti-microbial features into the design. DeepClean Radiators incorporate anti-bacterial and anti-microbial features into their design as a proactive measure to prevent the spread of infections and maintain a healthier and safer environment in the facility.

DeepClean Radiators are equipped with BioCote® technology, which provides effective and permanent protection against a spectrum of harmful microbes such as bacteria and fungi. By hindering the growth and proliferation of these microbes on the surface of the radiator covers, BioCote® actively reduce the risk of cross-contamination within the healthcare environment.

To substantiate the efficacy of BioCote® technology, extensive testing has been conducted. A program of regular testing demonstrates that BioCote® is highly effective in deactivating or killing colonies of pathogens. These include formidable threats such as the H1N1 Influenza virus, Salmonella, and Streptococcus faecalis bacteria, with reductions of up to 99.96% within two hours.

Strength and Durability with 1.5mm Zintec Steel

In healthcare facilities, furniture like radiators for healthcare is often subjected to frequent interactions and potential impacts and requires a resilient build to withstand the demands of areas with heavy footfall, such as hospital corridors, waiting rooms, and common spaces.

Constructed from 1.5mm Zintec steel, the DeepClean range provides unparalleled strength and durability. The robust material contributes to the overall durability of the radiators but also positions them as a long-term investment for healthcare facilities, ensuring reliable performance over the years.

Safety Features for Vulnerable Environments

Safety within healthcare spaces is always a major concern, especially when catering to vulnerable individuals. The design and features of heating elements play a pivotal role in creating an environment that minimises risks and ensures the well-being of patients and staff.

The DeepClean range incorporates safety design elements – radius edges and bullnose corners, as proactive measures against potential accidents and falls. Conventional radiator designs with sharp corners and edges can pose a hazard in environments where vulnerable individuals, such as the elderly and children, are present. The implementation of safety design features ensures a smoother and safer profile, minimising the risk of injuries and accidents.

Low Surface Temperature for Enhanced Safety

Conventional radiators for healthcare can pose an inherent risk of burns and injuries. The elevated surface temperatures of conventional radiators create potential hazards, especially in spaces where vulnerable individuals such as children, the elderly, and patients with limited mobility are present.

LST radiators offer a safer heating option that aligns with the unique needs of patient care environments. They are specifically engineered to maintain lower surface temperatures, mitigating the risks of burns.

By decoupling the heating element and pipework from the casing, LST radiators for healthcare ensure a safe surface temperature below 43 degrees Celsius. This proactive approach to temperature management provides an added layer of protection and brings peace of mind to healthcare providers, caregivers and patients. The DeepClean range offers LST heating solution that allows bespoke sizing, so they can be tailored to meet the specific safety and heating demands of each unique space.

Ensuring Safety, Hygiene, and Efficiency in Healthcare Environments With DeepClean

Contour's DeepClean LST provides a safer and cleaner heating option with safe surface temperature, unique easy access design and antimicrobial property. The range features a powder coating on both the inside and outside, incorporating BioCote® protection technology onto the product surface to inhibit the growth of microbes on surfaces, ensuring cleaner and safer heating.

The incorporation of BioCote® antimicrobial technologies has demonstrated an impressive reduction of microbes by up to 99.99% and represents a proactive step towards improving hygiene standards. Conventional radiator designs pose cleaning challenges, fostering environments with higher risks of microbial proliferation and the potential spread of infectious diseases.

DeepClean LST tackles these challenges head-on with a unique easy cleaning design, offering accessible surfaces for cleaning and minimising hidden spaces where dust and microbes thrive. To explore the optimal heating solution for your care home, get in touch today and schedule a consultation with one of our heating experts.