Now more than ever, the global fight against COVID-19 has highlighted the need for maintaining the utmost levels of hygiene in healthcare settings.
Whatever the healthcare environment, interior decoration can play a significant role in helping to limit the transmission of potentially harmful bacteria or viruses.
Even as uncomplicated a thing as selecting which paint to use when refurbishing a healthcare space can strengthen an organisation’s approach to infection control.
Danny McCann, painting services manager for Seddon, discusses the benefits of investing in paints that actively inhibit pathogens.
In areas where high levels of hygiene are paramount, there are several paint options available that provide added layers of sanitisation.
Antibacterial or microbicidal paints work by preventing the growth of microbes that cause infection, including hospital borne infections such as MRSA or E. coli.
Typically made from a high performance, tough acrylic resin base, these products are fortified with substances or active ingredients that effectively kill harmful bugs on surfaces where the paint is applied.
For instance, antibacterial paint is often used in hospital theatres and other sterilised environments. However, the coronavirus pandemic means it has never been more important to ensure healthcare settings are designed to protect the welfare of staff and service users no matter where they are in a building.
An antibacterial paint can be used wherever there is a risk of bacteria being transmitted – from corridors and waiting rooms, to bathrooms or entrances.
When used in conjunction with established cleaning and sanitisation protocols, antibacterial paint offers passive protection that provides further peace of mind.
COVID-19 still poses a significant risk, so it’s good to know a simple antibacterial paint can help to ease worry, even though it may not be able to fight against the coronavirus directly.
The benefit lies in the fact that carrying out essential redecoration works using these products is an indirect way of limiting the spread of many other harmful infections, easing the overall burden on healthcare teams.
When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March 2020, Seddon’s Painting division was tasked by Mace to transform the interior of Kingsgate House in Stockport.
The NHS facility required minor repair works and full decoration to prepare the area for clinical testing of coronavirus patients.
Seddon mobilised a team of four decorators to complete the project in five days, a rapid turnaround for the client given the urgent requirement for local testing centres.
The team sourced in-demand Johnstone’s Microbarr Antibacterial Acrylic Eggshell to redecorate the ground-floor reception, offices, corridor, toilets, and clinical rooms. Silver ions in the paint inhibit harmful bacteria on surfaces.
No specialist applicator training is needed to apply the paint, which ensured Seddon met the strict time constraints.
The project was successfully handed over snag-free and achieved 100% customer satisfaction.
Overall, using antibacterial paint provided staff with reassurance that the building was equipped to fight other potential infections while they focussed on completing vital testing for COVID-19 at the start of the pandemic.
