Broadgreen Hospital - Surgical Instrument Decontamination Centre
About Our Department
Opened in 2019, our state-of-the-art Sterile Services Department (SSD) at Broadgreen Hospital serves as the Trusts Centralised Surgical Instrument Decontamination & Sterilisation Centre.
- 88 Specialist Staff Members
- 19,000 Surgical Instruments Sets Processed Monthly (equivalent to approx. 556,000 individual surgical instruments)
Surgical Instrument Reprocessing
Step 1: Collection & Delivery
Our dedicated team of drivers ensures timely collection and delivery of instruments from 50 operating theatres and numerous outpatient clinics across Aintree, Broadgreen, Royal, and the University Dental Hospital.
Step 2: Decontamination
Using specialist washer disinfectors, instruments undergo thorough cleaning with specialised chemicals and ultrapure Reverse Osmosis Water at 90°C for one hour, ensuring thermal disinfection and safe handling preparation.
Step 3: Inspection and Packing
Instruments are packed in our Class 7 Cleanroom environment - exceeding operating theatre standards. This controlled environment undergoes multiple daily cleanings and regular independent testing to maintain its compliance to ISO 14644 Environmentally Controlled Cleanroom Environments.
Step 4: Sterilisation
Depending on instrument type, sterilisation occurs through either:
- Large steam sterilisers operating at 134°C for standard instruments
- H2O2 Vaporised Hydrogen Peroxide Low Temp Sterilisation (Sterrad) system for specialised items for example DaVinci robotic Instrument systems.
Step 5: Distribution
Our transport team ensures multiple daily deliveries to all Trust locations, with our Instrument Coordinators managing stock levels, facilitating repairs, and coordinating cross-site instrument movement as needed.
The Healthedge System
Our bespoke IT system provides comprehensive tracking and management of all instrument sets, including:
- Unique asset ID and detailed inventory management of all surgical instruments used across the Trust.
- Which location these instruments are across all trust sites
- Monitor the decontamination process batch control tracking through washing, packing, and sterilisation & despatch back to toe point of use.
- Provides details of all staff undertaking the various elements of the decontamination process for training and Traceability purposes.
- Labelling allows for Patient-level traceability, scanning to the patients electronic Patient record of manually affix a “peelable” barcode into patients care pathway.
Our Leadership Team
Robbie Cormie RODP, IDSc (Cht’d) AP(D)
Trust Decontamination Lead
To ensure all medical devices and surgical instruments are purchased, decontaminated and used for their intended purposes across LUHFT sites and that the Trust remains regulatory compliant with all its policies, procedures and other regulated activities.
Sandra Mallon
SSD General Manager
Day to day overall management of all staffing and production within the SSD facility, including logistics and liaison with all areas.
Sandra has over 30 years of experience working for LUHFT in SSD.
James Bilbao
Trust Instrument Manager
The oversee and maintain the quality of surgical instruments across the Trust including working with users to provide expert advice on all instrument purchases and repairs. Leads a team of Instrument Coordinator providing a face-to-face relationship with site based surgical teams for the smooth running and management of instruments to meet clinical business needs.
Debbie Evans
SSD Deputy Manager
Manages all aspects of HR and Payroll process. To ensure Annual leave, sickness management, recruitment and other staff resources are available across all shifts.