Case Study Clean Air Technology Revolutionizes UK Family Practice

The Charing Practice in Ashford, Kent provides the local community with a wide array of healthcare facilities and treatments. With a full dispensing pharmacy and various complementary therapies including in-house counselling, a chiropractor, myofascial release, and a yoga practitioner, its main aim is to ensure that patients in the 21 villages and communities it serves don’t need to travel to receive further treatment and can rely on the top class services provided.

Equipped with a specialized Asthma/COPD Clinic, the Charing practice is extremely aware of the needs of those with existing respiratory issues and was already aware of the threats poor indoor air quality can pose and how best to manage it. Thus, their decision to invest and install decontamination solutions.

According to Senior Partner and Lead GP, Dr. Bill Warrilow, doctors at the practice heard about Radic8 VIRUSKILLER™ devices through a colleague at a nearby surgery and began to research its world class air purification technology. “The more we learnt about it, the more we realized it was exactly what we were looking for so, we put in an order.” With Viruskiller Technology being a market leader in decontamination solutions, it was a clear choice for the staff and owners of The Charing Practice.

Take control of the airflow

With the Practice being built in the mid-1990s it’s clear to say that it wasn’t built with airflow and ventilation systems in mind. “The risk of vapour contagion was not an issue that came into the design brief of the architects, so we needed something that was going to be able to take the air — especially in spaces that have to remain stagnant for ultrasounds and other procedures — and then clean it.”

Doctor with Radic8 Hextio Dr. Warrilow was particularly impressed with VIRUSKILLER™ technology’s ability to take control of the air and safely decontaminate it in medically sensitive spaces such as dispensaries. “We had contagion risk in our dispensary where lots of staff work in close proximity, and because drugs are stored there, the space needs to be temperature controlled. This meant we had to rely on air conditioning. The resulting recycled air posed a major risk with managing viruses, especially during a global pandemic.”

Staff were equally excited about the unit’s ability during procedures. According to Dr. Warrilow, “When we are performing minor operations and we do cautery with a hyfrecator, it creates a plume of smoke that contains carcinogenic substances and can also potentially contain viral material. Having a device that actually extracts that air, neutralizes those fumes, and deactivates the viral material makes our operating space safer.”

Clean air technology for patient and staff reassurance and confidence working in a safe environment.

The practice is delighted with the positive feedback it has received from patients who now feel reassured and confident visiting the clinic. “We’ve often been favourably compared to the local hospital where our patients said they’ve felt safer coming here than they were going to many other places for treatment. This technology is part of a package of really doing what we can, and these units have been a really valuable extra string to the bow.”

Clean air in the Charring Practice Pharmacy

Not only do the patients feel safe at the practice, Doctors, nursing, and administrative staff are delighted that there are so many safety precautions and measures to keep them safe while they look after the health of the local community. “A lot of our staff feel safer coming to work than they do going to the shops or the hairdressers — you’d think working in a place where sick people go that you’d be worried about it but these units are evidence of us taking those extra steps to keep them safe. It’s nice to be at the cutting edge of these things.”

All-in-one indoor air safety

Plans and drawings have been drawn up to create a new entrance that will ensure patients visiting for routine procedures will enter one way and leave another. Repositioned windows will increase ventilation and in addition the VIRUSKILLER™ units will deliver clean air around the practice. ”We will be relying on the units in our consultation rooms to keep patients and staff safe. Since the installation doesn’t require any rebuilding or reengineering, it’s easily added to what you’ve already got — we found it really, really easy to do.”

Clean air in the Charring Practice

Dr. Warrilow is delighted that he and his colleagues took the relevant and necessary steps of investing in indoor air safety for the practice. “This technology is going to serve us for a long time. These devices will see us through and help us moving forward, so we thought it was worth investing in them for the long term. There’s nothing quite like these units”