Ms Chloe Howard1, Ms Romaine Huggett1, Ms Chelsea Stuckey1
1ACT Health, Canberra, Australia
Biography:
Chloe Howard is an Infection Control officer at the Health Protection Service in the Australian Capital Territory. She has worked in Public Health for over 6 years, 5 in Infection Prevention and Control with a focus on Public Health and non-hospital-based settings.
Abstract:
Introduction
The introduction of the 2023 Australian Standard for reprocessing reusable medical devices specifies requirements for the quality of water used in the cleaning and final rinsing of reusable medical devices. Under the previous standard, many facilities in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) were not required to assess water quality beyond ensuring potability. An environmental assessment project was undertaken by ACT Health to understand the current quality of the water used by businesses reprocessing reusable medical devices to inform the regulatory approach for compliance with the 2023 standard.
Method
Water samples were collected from private businesses and analysed for pH, conductivity, hardness, chloride, iron, phosphates, silicates, total viable count and endotoxin at a NATA accredited laboratory. Testing included electrical potential, heterotrophic plate count and photometric turbidimetric analysis. Local water utility (ICON) monthly reports were also reviewed for the levels of these substrates.
Results
Samples were assessed against the 2023 standard. All samples were sufficient for the cleaning of reusable medical devices; however, majority of samples did not meet the requirements for final rinse water specified in the 2023 standard. Reverse osmosis filtered water samples did meet the requirements for final rinse water. ICON water reports indicated that ACT’s reticulated water is generally suitable for cleaning purposes.
Conclusion
ACT’s reticulated water is compliant with the 2023 standard for cleaning purposes. However, businesses will be required to test and treat reticulated water or consider a filtration method such as reverse osmosis to be compliant with the 2023 standard for final rinse water.