Case Study - Guernsey Hospitals Adopt NEW Legionella Management Solution

Case Study - Guernsey Hospitals Adopt NEW Legionella Management Solution

TM Electronics (TME) TC Wall Port System
Imagine being able to achieve water temperature testing of hard-to-access pipes, tanks and thermostatic mixing valves (TMVs) without the need to either remove panels or work at height.

Add to this, very low unit costs, instant results and a choice of manual or paperless recording options, and you can begin to see the attraction for hospitals estates managers faced with the daily challenge of legionella risk management compliance.

Princess Elizabeth Hospital

States of Guernsey hospitals have adopted TME’s TC Wall Port System to simplify water temperature testing of hard-to-access pipes – especially for return loop monitoring. 

“The size and spread-out nature of our site makes a supply on demand hot water system impractical so what we have instead is a hot supply and return system where hot water is kept constantly flowing around the loop,” explains Water Safety Technician, Roger Le Tissier. “Our Water Safety Plan requires us to have a minimum temperature on both supply and return, which is so much easier with the TC Wall Ports because we don’t have to remove the panels to get the results.”

TheTC Wall Port System offers a practical method of remote temperature sensing which is cheap to install, produces instant results, fewer false negatives - and crucially, once in place reduces the time and cost of ongoing temperature tests by removing the need to take down panelling or work at height. This new streamlined approach makes them ideal for simplifying compliance with the Department of Health’s guidance (HTM) 04-01 on Safe Water in healthcare premises and the HSE ACoPL8 guidance on Legionella Risk Management. 

How does the system work?  

TC Wall Ports are miniature, wall-mounted thermocouple sockets which speed up and simplify temperature testing of hard to reach locations like concealed pipework including TMVs, subordinate loops and high-level water storage tanks.

Each port measures just 52 x 52 mm and houses either a single or double thermocouple connector, linked to any given water outlet using a length of fine wire with a fixed surface, air or immersion sensor. Temperatures are taken by simply plugging a hand-held thermometer into the port, delivering instant results with no loss of accuracy from up to 20 metres away. 

A significant advantage of using fine wire sensors left permanently in place is their speed of response and enhanced accuracy. TME Managing Director, Tom Sensier: “TC Wall Ports are quick and easy to install and even easier to use. Plugging in your thermometer to get a measurement is as easy as charging your mobile phone but better because the results are instant! There are also far fewer false negatives as the fine wire sensor is left taped in situ directly attached to the pipe surface.”  

The Guernsey Strategy

Princess Elizabeth is Guernsey’s only acute hospital, made up of 12 wards and various departments including all of the island’s diagnostic facilities. The hospital is managed by the States of Guernsey Health, Social Care & Wellbeing Department, which provides integrated health and social care to Guernsey, Alderney and Sark. Alongside a number of UK NHS Trusts and Local Authorities the States of Guernsey, have been early adopters of the system. 

Clive Martin, Head of Estates: “Our hospital safety laws in Guernsey are pretty tough, and rightly so, resulting in some difficult challenges. This is particularly the case when it comes to monitoring subordinate loops - one of the most well-known problems in the field of water safety management. We have over 800 subordinate loops alone, and many are located behind closed panelling, which can be quite a headache.”

TC Wall Ports have been installed on a number of the wards at the Princess Elizabeth Hospital, specifically to help monitor subordinate loops, situated behind panels, which previously would need removal every time a temperature had to be taken. “We’ve been very impressed with the Wall Port System,” says Clive Martin. “Both the single and double wall ports, which we use with TME’s legionella thermometer kits and dual purpose surface/immersion probes to monitor water temperatures across the estate.” 

Double TC Wall Ports are the most recent addition to TME’s Legionella Range. Maintaining the same miniaturisation, this new style wall port features two thermocouple inputs instead of one, offering an ideal solution for hot and cold pipe monitoring, either in settings without TMV’s or when there is concern about the quality of the unblended water supply before the TMV is reached. These Double TC Wall Ports are supplied with integral wires in a choice of lengths depending on the setting.

What about versatility?

TC Wall Ports can be easily fitted and left in situ, and are supplied either ready wired or with wires available separately, in different lengths and thermocouple types with PTFE or glass fibre insulation. Several ports can be mounted together in one location, allowing multiple measurements to be taken quickly and safely from one position.

They are compatible with any thermocouple input thermometer although for manual spot checks TME recommends its MM2000 instrument range which features robust, high accuracy, waterproof thermometers and a wide range of compatible temperature probes and sensors. The MM2008 with integral 1 and 2 minute timer is particularly useful for ACoPL8 testing. 

TC Wall Ports are also ideal for delivering a more seamless, paperless method of temperature recording. This is easily achieved by applying a label with a unique configurable barcode to each port, which can be used to record and store temperature readings using TME’s unique MM7000-2D Barcode Scanning Thermometer. This portable, Bluetooth thermometer has a built-in barcode scanner, is battery powered and requires no Wi-Fi connection for taking measurements. It can be used to record a temperature reading without using pen, paper or PDA. 

Crucially for Water Safety Plans, using a barcode to record temperature checks is ideal for proof of flushing as it proves that recording has actually taken place, reducing the possibility of human error or falsified results, while maintaining a body of data for analysing compliance. 

For continuous 24 hour monitoring and temperature profiling, the ports are also compatible with thermocouple input data loggers supplied by TME.

Is the system affordable?

With unit costs as low as £16-25 per water outlet the affordability of our TC Wall Port System speaks for itself.

Tom Sensier: “The low cost of TC Wall Ports makes them a very affordable option for both retro-fit and new-build. Use them to complement an existing BMS or to plug the gaps where none exists; solve problems on an individual ward or – as others have done – roll them out across your entire estate. Long term savings in time and labour are guaranteed.”