19th Apr 2006 13:00
Synergy Healthcare PLC19 April 2006 For Immediate Release 19 April 2006 The North West Sterile Services Partnership selects Shiloh, a subsidiary of Synergy Healthcare plc, as its preferred bidder for the development of a new, decontamination processing centre in Manchester. The North West Sterile Services Partnership ("the Partnership") consisting of: South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust;North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust;Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust; andChristie Hospital NHS Trust has selected Shiloh as their preferred bidder for the construction and operationof a £5 million decontamination processing centre in Manchester. The newdecontamination centre is the outcome of a national initiative by the Departmentof Health to improve the quality of patient care by reducing the risksassociated with the decontamination and re-sterilisation of surgical instrumentsand equipment. It will enable NHS hospitals to meet and maintain the latestEuropean standards for the decontamination of surgical instruments. The fifteen year contract, which will reach financial close by the early summer,is expected to begin operations in March 2007 bringing to the local healtheconomy: - state of the art processing equipment and environment; - full instrument traceability; - investment in knowledge and skills development for the sterile services technicians; - improved availability of instrumentation; and most importantly - improved protection against infection. For further information please contact: Mike Fazal, Director, Shiloh 0161 785 3601 Dr Richard M Steeves, CEO, Synergy Healthcare plc 01332 387107 Isabel Podda, Buchanan Communications 020 7466 5000 For further information about the Partnership please contact: David Cain, Chief Executive Trafford Healthcare NHS trust, 0161 746 2947 Paul Featherstone, Director of Estates & Facilities, 0161 291 2904South Manchester University Hospitals NHS Trust,. This and previous releases can be found at synergyhealthcare.plc.uk Synergy Healthcare is one of leading providers of support services to the UK andDutch healthcare markets. The group is one of the most experienced providers ofdecontamination services operating fifteen facilities in the UK and processingc.40 million instruments this year. A new Dutch facility is scheduled to beginoperations later in June. The group currently has 2500 employees, a forwardorder book of £0.6 billion and annualised sales of £135 million. Note for Editors Decontamination is a combination of processes, including cleaning, disinfectionand/or sterilization, used to render reusable surgical instruments safe forfurther use. A sample survey of decontamination services in the NHS in England - the firstsuch for over 40 years - carried out in 1999/2000 and published in December2001, found instances where decontamination processes fell short of currentstandards. Analysis of the findings of this initial survey highlighted the needto undertake a comprehensive review of decontamination services across the wholeof the NHS. NHS Estates carried out such a comprehensive survey of the NHS fromOctober 2000. In January 2001, John Denham MP, the then Minister of Healthannounced that the Government would invest £200 million in improvingdecontamination in the NHS in England. The NHS needs state-of-the-artdecontamination "locked in" as part of its culture - having achievedsatisfactory performance at a point in time, that performance must be maintainedindefinitely, with a mechanism for ensuring that future technical advances aremonitored and incorporated. The Department launched its national strategy fordoing this in June 2003. A further three Projects, involving 16 Trusts, are expected to announce theirpreferred bidders later this year. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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