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Following the fire in a hospital last year where Health officials had to close the intensive care unit for several day’s because of an electrical fault. Using a certified PAT Testing company to check that all of the equipment is PAT tested on a regular basis could have helped ensure that this didn’t happen.

Different wards within the hospital were used to re bed over 60 patients as a safety measure. The following fire report gave the cause as an electrical fault in one of the hospitals air conditioning units. Medical equipment that was effected by the fire was checked and cleaned by the appropriate people after the fire, If PAT testing had been carried out on a regular basis before the incident perhaps the fault would have been avoided which would have cut down on lost man hours and damage to the intensive care ward.

Routine surgery was cancelled for a couple of days and an alternative intensive care area had to be found within the hospital. Things like Stethescopes, bandages, Vitalograph Aspirators and other bits of equipment were effected by the fire but fortunately the Majority of the equipment was okay.

PAT testing is a cost effective way of ensuring that all of your portable appliance are checked and safe for use, lets face it if hospitals are having fires even with all of the precautions they take, ensuring you get a reliable certified PAT tester to do your work is imperative.

When people are in situations where they are unable to look after themselves whether that be due to illness, old age or infancy, it is sometimes necessary to use equipment to prevent that person from dieing. I don’t mean the sort of equipment that needs the skill of a surgeon or a doctor or a trained nurse but equipment that does the job and can be used by anyone.

Once they know where to place it to remove any blockages the Hand powered Vitalograph Aspirator is a brilliant bit of kit I came across it while doing some work for a medical company I work for. If somebody gets a fluid blockage in their throat that is when somebody will normally use the Vitalograph Aspirator.

What happens a lot of the time with things like vomit is that if the person is lieing on their back the fluid will have nowhere to go and this causes something called Laryngospasm which allows you to breath out but doesn’t allow you to breath in. This stops the person breathing the fluid into their lungs but prevents them from breathing.

Get somebody into the recovery position as soon as you can if you come across them, and they are on their back and seem to be having some problem with breathing. The Vitalograph Aspirator creates a vacuum when you squeeze the handle that draws the fluid away from the throat of the person allowing the person to breath. If for some reason the patients airways keep getting filled with liquid the Vitalograph Aspirator will just start pumping the fluid out of the back of it rather than stop functioning.

A lot of people arent aware of this useful bit of kit or the recovery position and I find it amazing that something as simple as a hand pump can save lives. I had to draft this article so that lots of people were aware of it and could make sure that they either had the Aspirator available in their place of work be it a pool or the beach or knew what might be happening to the person and get them into a position (the recovery position)where the fluid to drain away from the person.