Following the acquisition of Arena Instrumentation UKAS calibration services, Ellab UK has extended its footprint in NHS Trusts across the country. The business, whose UK monitoring solutions business is based in Letchworth, has recently won orders to supply a range of hospitals in the Midlands and North of England with temperature monitoring equipment.
The latest contracts are for monitoring the environment across hundreds of points in a huge variety of departments from mental health facilities, critical care and maternity wards to operating theatres, pharmacy rooms and X-ray departments. Supporting the NHS is a key driver for Ellab. As a framework supplier it now offers the complete package – equipment, documentation and project delivery.
IceSpy wireless monitoring systems from Ellab Monitoring Solutions are also keeping temperature tabs on the conditions in the hospitals’ fridges and freezers. This ensures that drugs and vaccines are fit for purpose before being administered to patients in the battle to stop the spread of Covid-19 and the latest variant Omicron.
The UK’s leading manufacturer of wireless environmental monitoring equipment says its solutions are ideal for tracking the storage conditions of flu and Covid-19 vaccines, which must be maintained at low temperatures. Coronavirus jabs require real-time temperature monitoring. Any deviation from the predefined parameters could see the vaccine rendered ineffective.
NHS Trusts require quick and easy-to-view real-time monitoring and reporting of conditions, enabling quick response and correction – preventing loss of product and ultimately protecting patients from being administered a vaccine that has been transported or stored outside of the permitted temperature range. IceSpy is a cost-effective solution that looks after vaccines over a sustained period of time, verifying at the point of use whether those temperatures have or haven’t been breached. An alarm alerts users of exposure to unacceptable temperature variations.
Marcus Stacey-Bradbury, UK Commercial Director at Ellab UK, says some hospitals had incurred losses because stored drugs had been either too hot or too cold. That’s why IceSpy was specified for maintaining the effectiveness of vaccines, as well as monitoring drugs cabinet in almost all departments including clinics, diabetics units, gynaecology and resus. Ellab also has its Tracksense Pro data logging system that can take a reading every second, that provides a report to pinpoint hot or cold spots for qualification & validation purposes.
He explained: “These are massive projects, with up to 250 temperature monitoring points across several sites. The Trusts have gone for a SaaS solution which sends all the data to a cloud server. All we do is pop the probes into the fridge or freezer, connect to the base station and we look after everything else remotely. There is minimum disruption to hospital services, much to the delight of the matrons!
“When products are lost, it’s mostly through breaching correct storage temperatures. We feel duty-bound to help the NHS – we understand the pressures that they are working under. They provide healthcare for us so we provide them with the tools to help them do that in a very safe and stable environment. It’s all about providing the equipment that helps hospitals deliver fantastic services.”
Wireless temperature monitoring systems from Ellab are being used in pharmaceutical, healthcare and food facilities across the world, where climate control within fridges and freezers is vital to keep vaccines safe during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
