A South Wiltshire nursing and mental health care centre provider has become the first residential care provider in the UK to commission innovative ultraviolet-C (UV-C) light technology in the fight against coronavirus.
Wessex Care operates residential sites including six different residential sites across Salisbury, including Kimberly East Care Centre, Kimberly West Care Centre, Holmwood House, Milford Manor, Castle View and Little Manor in Salisbury.
Ultra-V, developed by Inivos, is designed to decontaminate hospitals and care environments of potentially dangerous micro-organisms – including SARS-CoV-2, the pathogen which causes the COVID-19 virus.
Already in use in hundreds of hospitals across the UK, UV-C light technology is said to reduce viruses and bacteria to safe, non-infective levels in as little as eight minutes by breaking down their genetic code.
The mobile decontamination robot is remote-controlled to ensure operator safety and provides reports at the end of each cycle, which show showing if a decontaminated area is safe for residents to occupy.
Wessex Care has been supported in this initiative by Wiltshire Council and Wiltshire NHS Clinical Commissioning Group as part of the Covid-19 Response Fund for Care Providers.
Matthew Airey, founding director of Wessex Care said: “Providing the best possible care to each of our patients is at the heart of everything we do at Wessex Care. We’re thrilled we can continue to deliver on this mission by securing innovative ultraviolet-C clinical decontamination technology from Inivos.
“We’re proud to be the first care provider to take this step meaning our staff, patients and their loved ones can continue to be confident in the quality of care provided at Wessex Care.”
Tautvydas Karitonas, the head of research and development at Inivos added: “We’re so pleased that Wessex Care have taken the step to commission Ultra-V in their facilities. Our ultraviolet-C and hydrogen peroxide vapour technologies are already used by more than a third of NHS Trusts; however, we believe that clinical decontamination technology will soon become the norm in care homes as forward-thinking providers like Wessex look to secure best-in-class technology to ensure the continued health and wellbeing of their patients during this pandemic.”
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