Hospital sterilization solution?

A timetable has now been set for a new sterilization unit at Royal Inland Hospital.

Construction of the new and expanded medical device reprocessing (MDR) unit at RIH will get underway this spring, with completion in early 2012.

 The project is expected to cost $10.7-million, with the province picking up 60 per cent of the tab, and Thompson Regional Hospital District funding the rest

There are four main components to the project, including installation of a new, dedicated elevator between the operating rooms and the MDR unit.

There will be a redesign and expansion of the MDR unit, including purchase and installation of new sterilization equipment.

Also included are renovations to the clean supply holding room and soiled workroom and implementation of a new case cart system, which is used to transport surgical instruments to and from the operating room.

The total renovated space for the project is approximately 11,000 square feet and will be completed in phases to allow surgical procedures to continue uninterrupted at the hospital.

Previously known as the central sterilization department, funding for the MDR project was finalized after the Interior Health Authority commissioned detailed planning in 2010 to determine the final scope and cost of the redesign, renovation and expansion.

Last June, the province provided $750,000 to address equipment issues by buying new sterilization equipment.

The hospital has been dogged by a sterilization controversy after dirty surgical tools were found in several incidents, cancelling about 250 surgeries last February.

The problem resurfaced late last year as a Kamloops woman had her surgery delayed.

In addition, the RCMP initiated an investigation into a case of surgical-tool tampering, in which someone intentionally contaminated surgical tools. No arrests were made.