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Case Study Marie Curie Hospice - Solihull12/08/2004MARIE CURIE HOSPICE DELIVERS SPARKLING RESULTS THANKS TO ACER AND MIELE
The Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull is one of 10 Marie Curie Hospices throughout the UK. These specialist hospices provide the best quality of life for people with cancer. Each offers specialist care for inpatients and outpatients, along with day care and home visits. The charity provides the largest number of hospice beds outside the NHS.
One of the essential facilities within any Hospice is a laundry capable of producing clean linen to the highest standards. Such facilities have proved a vital resource for Marie Curie Hospices in handling high volumes of laundry, in-house, providing an efficient and cost effective system.
The Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull has recently refurbished its entire laundry room in order to maintain highest standards of care. The plan was to totally upgrade the laundry by replacing outdated equipment with new machines, which would meet current regulations and to extend the floor area to allow for ergonomic operation and more pleasant working conditions.
Wherever there is an intense level of medical care, it is essential that washing processes provide the option for thermal disinfection, with properly designated programmes for that purpose.
The Marie Curie Hospice management team sought expertise and advice from Acer Equipment Ltd who were local and had prior knowledge of their operations. ACER is a specialist commercial laundry distributor with a great deal of experience in this type of project. The initial discussions revealed the needs of their client. Reliability, low operational costs and efficiency were prime considerations.
ACER recommended Miele Professional laundry equipment for this application, as the best choice to meet their exacting criteria. The laundry room needed to be completely re-designed and ACER’s experience enabled them to offer guidance to the team and to the Architects appointed by Marie Curie Cancer Care. Although space was limited, attention to detail and thoughtful design has resulted in a facility which makes best use of every available inch.
Machinery now installed includes two of Miele WS5141 14kg washer extractors. These machines offered Marie Curie Cancer Care Miele’s Profitronic controls, which are freely programmable. This enabled Acer to design bespoke programmes to suit individual needs, in addition to the 10 standard programmes.
To complement the washer extractors, ACER also installed two of Miele T6351 14kg Gas Dryers and a Miele HM5136 Rotary Ironer. The dryers have unique features which were particularly important for this application. One such feature is the ability to supply dedicated incoming air to the machine via a duct. This means that open ventilation into the room can be minimised. Another standard feature is the reversing cylinder to eliminate tangling in the dryer – very important when you are drying bedding.
Will Freeman, Acer’s Managing Director Comments; ‘It was a privilege to have the opportunity of working with the team at Marie Curie Cancer Care. They had a real desire to provide the best facilities for their patients and their staff. Hopefully, we’ll have an opportunity to work with them again in the future.’
Liz Hancock, Non Clinical Services Manager, Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull comments: ‘We took on a big job in re-designing the full layout of our laundry room and replacing all the old equipment. It was great to have an experienced company like ACER, who understood our special needs and requirements. We are thrilled with the result. It is essential to the smooth running of our hospice that every area is running at maximum efficiency. Miele Professional equipment is exactly what we were looking for, and delivers excellent results with reliable performance.’
For more details on Miele Professional products call 0845 330 3618 or visit www.miele.co.uk. To contact ACER Equipment Ltd visit www.acerequipment.com, call 0870 179 8181 or Email: info@acerequipment.com
Pictured: Laundry room at the Marie Curie Hospice in Solihull with Miele Professional laundry equipment installed by ACER Equipment.
To find out how you can support Marie Curie Cancer Care or for information on how to access the services provided by the charity, please call 0800 716146 or visit the website www.mariecurie.org.uk.
For additional press information please contact:
Katie Cuthbert @ DRA Communications, The Stables, Hillend, Hogshaw, Bucks, MK18 3JY
Tel: 01296 670178. Fax: 01296 670179. E-mail: katie@dracommunications.com
