Redirooms Installed in London Hospitals

Evelina London has become the first children’s hospital in the world to use pop-up isolation rooms to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Evelina London’s hospital has five Redirooms, which are temporary spaces created to seal off the area around a bed or a cot in order to isolate patients with infections, including COVID-19.

Evelina London currently has very few children with COVID-19 at our hospital, however COVID-19 and many other infections are spread through contact and the air via droplets. The unit contains a special filter that removes droplets containing micro-organisms from the air. The temporary units are stored in a compact wheeled cart, which can be taken to the wards where they are needed and put together in around five minutes.

Shona Perkins, our deputy director for infection prevention and control, said: “The Redirooms provide additional space to safely treat and isolate patients with coronavirus and other infections, such as the flu, mumps and meningitis.

“We are also using them to treat patients who are suspected of having COVID-19 while the result of their test is processed.

“Previously we would use a side room to treat these types of patients, but we can now ensure our side rooms are kept free for patients with complex health conditions or patients who require extra protection from others

“The safety of our staff and patients is of utmost importance to us and the Redirooms are in addition to the many extra steps we have taken in recent months to reduce the risk of COVID-19.

“It’s understandable that our patients and their families are feeling anxious or concerned about attending their appointments but I want to reassure them that it’s safe to come to our hospitals and community sites.”

Extensive measures are in place at Evelina London to keep patients and staff safe when attending our hospital and community sites, and it’s important if you have been invited to a face to face appointment or procedure, that you still attend. The measures include requiring all staff and visitors to sanitise their hands on entering the building and to follow government advice on wearing face coverings. More frequent cleaning is in place and rooms and equipment are thoroughly cleaned between appointments. Only one parent or carer can accompany a child to their appointment and there are gaps between appointments and fewer clinics running at the same time to limit the number of people in the building. In addition, transparent acrylic screens called KwickScreens have been installed on wards between bays to maintain social distancing.

There are plans to have Redirooms available to use at Guy’s Hospital and St Thomas’ Hospital, which are part of the same NHS Trust as Evelina London.

Hospitals install pop-up Covid-19 isolation bays

Six NHS Trusts across England are fitting pop-up isolation rooms in their hospitals.

Royal Derby Hospital, part of University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust, has just installed 25 of the pop-up bays in their medical assessment unit, to separate patients until they receive the results of a Covid-19 test.

The temporary rooms which are stored in a compact wheeled cart, can be erected in around five minutes to provide an individual room to isolate patients.

Known as ‘Redirooms’, they were the brainchild of an Australian nurse who was concerned about keeping infectious patients on the ward until a single room was available.

Producer: Bernadette Kitterick

Digital Editor: Jasper Capper.

Published Section – BBC News; Subsection – Health; Original Publication – https://www.bbc.com/news/av/health-54910619