"If anyone asks what did we learn from Covid, here it is in bricks and mortar"
27.06.23
A consultant has praised a cutting edge Respiratory Support Unit (RSU) designed using the lessons of the Covid pandemic.
Consultant physician in respiratory medicine, Dr Dan Menzies, made his comment at the unit’s opening on June 15.
Based on Ward 6 at Glan Clwyd Hospital, the spacious 20-bed facility features an eight-bed unit with a host of special features.
Special donning and doffing areas have been built into the design and the air purification system goes well above current recommendations.
Normal wards change the air twice an hour but current requirements, post-pandemic, are for six changes of air per hour.
The new unit boasts a rate of 10 air changes per hour with additional, low-level vents to reduce aerosols in the environment.
Consultant physician in respiratory medicine, Dr Menzies, said: “We sat down with our design colleagues to see what we could do with the budget we had.
“If anyone says ‘what did we learn from Covid’, here it is in bricks and mortar. So we have built the optimal space with what we have.”
The RSU will house those patients with respiratory issues, such as flu or Covid, who are not sick enough to need high dependency care.
Crucially, it will reduce the pressure on the High Dependency Unit (HDU) in the event of a major outbreak of infections, explained Dr Menzies.
He said: “If you get a patient who needs ventilation you don’t want to infect the whole hospital. We know people who contracted Covid in hospital were more likely to die as a result.
“The high dependency until is often where infected people with respiratory difficulties land – not sick enough for intensive care but too sick for a normal ward.
“The RSU sits between the normal wards and the high dependency unit. In the pandemic people needed monitoring, so there’s a trade-off between monitoring and isolation.
“We have tried to prepare for epidemic flu and any pandemic respiratory virus in the future.”
Dual oxygen circuits across the whole ward mean there will be an unrestricted supply of high flow oxygen.
Even the electrics have been designed so there would be no lag in switching over to emergency lighting during a power cut.
This means complex procedures can continue uninterrupted, even in the event of energy loss.
Ward 6 matron, Julie Pope, said: “We have got a good line of sight to patients in this ward. When we have patients requiring higher observations, if they’re on breathing apparatus, we can see them from everywhere in this room and we will be staffed accordingly.”
A similar unit was set-up in Wrexham Maelor during the Covid pandemic and won praise as something all hospitals in Wales should have.
However, this is the first bespoke design and purpose built Respiratory Support Unit in Wales of the post-pandemic era.
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