Delivering in record time for coronavirus wards at Epsom University Hospital
Project: Epsom University Hospitals Covid-19 Wards
Client: Interserve / Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals
Timing: 25th – 28th March 2020
Value: £1.6M
Medical Gases completed a project, including over 1000 meters of pipework, in less than a week to boost oxygen supplies to the coronavirus wards at Epsom University Hospital.
Background
In early March 2020 Medical Gases was contacted by Interserve for a project to increase the supply of oxygen to two maternity wards at Epsom University Hospital, which were being converted to provide accommodation for coronavirus patients during the pandemic.
The challenge
Supplying the required oxygen to the wards necessitated running 54mm oxygen main pipework from the existing main through the occupied hospital, including installing pipework along the ambulance corridor being used to admit coronavirus patients.
Working through the night to deliver a solution
To save disruption to hospital staff and patient traffic, Medical Gases carried out the installation at night. A team of 15 people worked from 5pm to 5am on three consecutive nights to complete the run of 1000 metres of pipework. The contract, which would ordinarily take around a month in an occupied hospital, took less than a week from instruction to commissioning. The speed and quality of the installation is wholly attributable to the skill, knowledge and commitment of the Medical Gases team, who draw on the experience gained from the company’s 37 years’ experience of delivering this type of contract.
Throughout the work, to protect themselves and others, the Medical Gases team had to wear full PPE, disinfect their tools daily, go through a post work regime of showering and washing their work clothes and at the end of the contract they had to isolate for a week.
This completion of the Epsom Hospital contract in record time is an achievement to be proud of. The team worked long hours under very challenging conditions, and at potential risk to their own health, to ensure that coronavirus wards were up and running as quickly as possible, knowing that without oxygen the facilities could not function. We are very proud of them and grateful to their families for their support.
Following the successful completion of the Epsom Hospital system, Medical Gases carried out projects to provide oxygen for covid-19 provisions at the Dragon’s Heart Hospital at the Principality Stadium and the Royal London Hospital. We are immensely proud of all our staff, who have worked so hard to deliver, and showed their commitment in such challenging circumstances, and are grateful to the suppliers who went above and beyond to support them. Thank you all.
