Revelation?
- Simon Philpott
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
“And I looked, and beheld a pale horse; and the name of him who sat on him was Death, and Hell followed after him.”
Revelation 6:8 KJV
The white, or “pale horse” spoken about in that quote from Revelation is deathly white, the colour aiming to tell us something about the condition of that horse and what it portrays, ill health and imminent death. Colour is used a lot in society to convey certain messages, red for danger, green for go, with the colour white ubiquitous in healthcare tending to convey purity and cleanliness. But when looking to make a purchasing decisions one should look a little further and dig a little deeper; just because something is white doesn’t automatically qualify it as a product for healthcare, or a ‘healthy’ product. In my 20+ years working in healthcare technology, most latterly in the field of computing hardware, I witnessed computers being sold as a “healthcare device” when the cleanliness of the product, more importantly the ability to limit Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs), is not built in. Purveyors of such devices make them out of white plastic believing that this is enough to convince perspective buyers that their product is clean and pure. Annually HCAIs are estimated to cost the NHS £2.7 billion (NICE, Healthcare-associated infections. Last revised in June 2024) and 22,500 inpatient deaths. That might seem a low figure considering the NHS makes 1.1 million hospital admissions annually, but any preventable death is a tragedy, and that £2.7 billion could be used to provide better care (or perhaps better computing devices!).
NICE issue guidelines on HCAI prevention which includes, “Ensuring all equipment is sterile, packaging is intact.” But what about tablet PC’s, laptops, and keyboards which are so prevalent in our care environments and as has been widely reported often hide millions of nasty little microbes, “Your Computer Keyboard Is 20,000 Times Dirtier Than A Toilet Seat” writes Natasha Hinde in HuffPost (13/10/2016). Surely, their guidelines should state that any computing equipment being used in an area where patient care is being delivered should be a) made with or have an anti-microbial coating b) cleanable with chemicals c) have an Ingress Protection (IP) rating of IP65 or better? It’s not rocket-science or a revelation; it’s just common sense.
Without such guidance norms, such as that portrayed in this picture, will continue to be a weak link in infection prevention, and NHS organisations will continue to buy equipment that is not really fit for purpose.
For nearly 20 years Sumo Health Technologies, a division of Sumo Technologies, have been providing computers to hospitals, pharmacies, and laboratories that are:
Made with anti-microbial materials to resist pathogens living on the device
IP65 rated for water and dust resistance so that fluids etc cannot gain ingress
ANSI/AAMI ES60601-1 certified for electrical safety in environments where oxygen or other flammable gasses might be present
Can be cleaned using chemicals and regimes that are prevalent in healthcare
We also supply peripherals such as scanners, keyboards, mice, and printers that have similar or the same characteristics as our computers. Want to find out more then why not get in contact using the details at the bottom of this blog, or check out our healthcare range on this site, just click on our logo at the top of the screen.
Contact: Simon Philpott
Telephone: +44 7470629648
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