Exterminate! Bug zapping robot keeping patients safe at Queen’s Hospital
Our hospital has become the first in the UK to use a robot to help keep our patients safe from infection – and we’ve been making headlines all over the national press!
After a successful trial we introduced two Xenex machines, named Rosie and Mavis, after colleagues involved in the trial, to provide additional cleaning at Queen’s Hospital.
The robots use an intense UV light which quickly disinfects surfaces such as bedrails, tray tables, bathroom handles and toilet seats. They have been used in hospitals in America since 2010, where studies have shown a reduction in bacteria of up to 70 per cent.
They are used by cleaners from our partner, Sodexo, which funded the robots as part of its contract with us.
No jobs are affected as they are used as an additional layer of cleaning to protect our patients from bugs such as C.diff and MRSA.
They were featured in the Times and Express newspapers last week, and we were also on the ITV London News on Tuesday. You can watch the segment online.
Nadeem Moghal, our Medical Director, said: “The safety and wellbeing of our patients is our first priority so anything we can do to reduce the risk of infection is great for our hospitals.
“Colleagues from departments across the hospital worked well together and we were really pleased with the results of the trial.”
When the machines were first unveiled, it was a big surprise for our hospital domestic Mavis Dickel, 75, and Rosie Mandeloso, 26, a specialist information analyst for our infection control team, that they were named after them.
Both were heavily involved in the trial, with Mavis, who has worked at our hospitals for 19 years, being the first person to use her namesake robot.
She said: “When I found out they’d named one after me I found it really funny.
“To me, they’re the next wonder of the world, helping us to do things we’ve not been able to do before.”
W're the first to use the robots proactively to clean our surgical theatres and hospital bathrooms, as well as reactively to deep clean rooms and wards between patients.