Decontamination services

What we do

Decontamination Services is responsible for the provision of a decontamination service that meet the requirements of the Trust and external customers. In the Sterile Services Department (SSD) this includes the collection, cleaning, disinfection, inspection, packing, labelling, sterilisation and distribution of sterile and disinfected instrument sets, packs and supplementary items. In the Endoscope Decontamination Unit (EDU) this includes the collection, cleaning, disinfection, inspection, labelling, storage, packing and distribution of flexible endoscopes and accessories. We decontaminate more than 120,000 products annually. 

The service has established a Quality Management System to the Standard BS EN ISO 13485:2016 that covers all the activities undertaken by both the SSD and EDU relevant to the quality of the products and services provided by the department and is verified and audited by our recognised Notified Body, NQA.

We are committed to:

• Ensuring that products issued are fit for the purpose for which they are intended
• Responding promptly and effectively to the needs of our purchasers and service users
• Satisfying all aspects of agreed contracts between the department and its customers pertaining to the manufacture and/or processing of reusable devices, including surgical instrumentation and flexible endoscopes
• Maintaining a Quality Management System that reflects good practice and complies with specified requirements 2007/47/EC and EN ISO 13485
• Maintaining the effectiveness of the Quality Management System
• Operating quality procedures to ensure our objectives are monitored, met consistently, reliably and at an optimal cost given the quality parameters 
• Providing our personnel with the working environments, tools, leadership and training to discharge their assigned duties most effectively
• Seeking always to continually improve the quality performance of the SSD and EDU by means of measuring and monitoring performance against our objectives

Staff members have the appropriate training, experience and qualifications for the work they are required to undertake and have the opportunity to develop in the role.

Contact information

Chelsea and Westminster Hospital

Decontamination Services
5th Floor, Lift Bank D

T: 020 3315 8475

We are open Mon–Fri, 7am–11pm and weekends/bank holidays 8am–4pm. We provide an on call service for time outside those hours for emergency and trauma sets only.

Please note: Only authorised officers can access the department.

Further information

We make use of a comprehensive track and trace software to guarantee quality assurance by tracking all processes in the sterile production which provides certainty of compliance with safety procedures for regulatory compliance.

All reusable instruments received are manually inspected by staff technicians for non-conformances such as missing and damaged parts before going through mechanical cleaning and chemical disinfection by fully validated automated machines calibrated to manufacturer’s specifications. 

Photos from our Sterile Services Department (SSD) and Endoscope Decontamination Unit (EDU)