The Operating Theatre Journal - Journal - Page 11
Another string to our bow
Not only do we manufacture, repair and refurbish instruments,
we are also approved UK distributors of key international brands.
Proud to be a family-run British company
10,000 top
sellers
in stock
WE ALL HAVE AN
BOOKWALTER®
authorised distributor
Contact out team to dicuss your surgical instrument requirements
+44 (0)1702 602050 | info@surgicalholdings.co.uk | surgicalholdings.co.uk
ETHICAL
Our most
popularDUTY
general
TO REFURBISH
OUR MEDICAL
INSTRUMENTS
surgery reusable
instruments
are always in stock, ready to ship
Sustainability on thin ICE
With trends in sustainability encouraging repair and reuse, it
is very important not to overlook the fundamental value of
surgical instruments/medical devices both from a functionality
and patient safety perspective.
Retaining the original function of the device is crucial to ensure
that the intended initial use, from product manufacture, is not
potentially compromised. Examples of this might be the use of
the correct technique for sharpening devices such as scissors,
osteotomes and rongeurs, or ensuring the correct 昀椀eld of view
for an endoscope repair.
How can Sterile services departments, and operating theatres,
ensure the work they are having carried out is correct and up
to standard? The MHRA encourage any choice of vendors to be
ISO 13485 certi昀椀ed - but is this enough? Using a repair company
is often a leap of faith and, with various and numerous
commercial offerings to choose from, it can be dif昀椀cult to
distinguish value for money.
A simple acronym to adopt when evaluating standards of repairs, quality, functionality and performance is ‘ICE’.
Inspection – perform due diligence on the device repaired and take a look at what element of the instrument has been repaired. Does the cutting
edge of a scissor, returned from sharpening, look like a quality repair? You might opt to adopt testing from British standards or the
German DIN standards, where there are speci昀椀c test materials to ensure the product is 昀椀t for use.
Challenge – ask your repair company to explain what they’ve done and how and who has carried out this work? Any credible company should
quickly be able to present worksheets for the work done, and provide back-up training information for the technicians who have
performed this work. In our opinion, experience in manufacture is essential to have a complete understanding of essential repair
workmanship.
Evaluate –
get feedback from the end users as to how these repairs have performed – which is also a good opportunity to engage with Operating
Theatre colleagues. In general, repairs will be date marked, so they’re traceable, but there may be other data available that can
be monitored. At Surgical Holdings, we utilise our own system, Surgi昀椀x, to provide stakeholders with all relevant data at their
昀椀ngertips.
With this new ‘chilled out’ approach to device repair, there should be renewed con昀椀dence that a sustainable approach to medical device
management is not just the tip of the ICEberg!
For more information, visit: https://www.surgicalholdings.co.uk/
Find out more 02921 680068 • e-mail admin@lawrand.com
When responding to articles please quote ‘OTJ’
Issue 398
November
2023
11
