Decontamination in primary care dental practices - Gov.uk

Decontamination: Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 – Decontamination in primary care dental practices (2013 edition)10 Procurement of decontamination equipmentand instrumentsNoteIn addition to the guidance given in this chapter,readers may also find Scottish Dental’s website useful.On its decontamination page, it has included a list ofdecontamination equipment that has been tested andapproved for use in dental practices, and which is usedin the national contract in Scotland.Determining the load to be processed10.1 In order to ensure full compatibility of theequipment with the decontamination process,the need for packaging and storage should beconsidered, as this will affect the type of airremovalprocess and therefore the type of sterilizerchosen (vacuum or displacement).10.2 For the cleaning process, instrument designwill also affect the choice of cleaning process,particularly regarding loading carriages for thermalwasher-disinfectors.10.3 If cannulated devices are to be cleaned, ultrasonicirrigators (that is, ultrasonic cleaners with theadditional ability to clean and flush internalchannels of cannulated devices) or loading carriageswith lumen connections may be required.10.4 In addition to the types of load items:• their quantities should also be assessed. This willenable the number of equipment items to bedetermined;• realistic cycle times should be assumed whencapacity planning is calculated;• it should be remembered that alldecontamination equipment will requiremaintenance, servicing and testing – reasonabletime during the normal working day should beset aside for these procedures;• all capacity planning should be documented.NotePeriodic testing for washer-disinfectors, sterilizersand ultrasonic cleaners can take up to a full session.Accordingly Registered Managers should planschedules to allow for this, particularly if theequipment is located close to clinical areas. (Theprocess effectively takes a machine out of use for thatsession.) Times will be different for sterilizer types N,B and S. Removal, or disablement, of unwanted cycleson multi-cycle machines can help to reduce this.Decontamination equipment: washerdisinfectorsand sterilizers10.5 Decontamination equipment should be procuredagainst the relevant Health Technical Specification(formerly, Model Engineering Specification). Theseare currently available for washer-disinfectors andsterilizers.10.6 Advice on completing the specifications forsterilizers and washer-disinfectors and on theproduction of a specification for ultrasoniccleaners/irrigators is available from the AuthorisingEngineer (Decontamination).NoteAll Model Engineering Specifications are beingprogressively revised and retitled as Health TechnicalSpecifications (HTS).10.7 New decontamination equipment should display aCE mark (see below) to demonstrate compliancewith the Medical Devices Regulations 2002.48