This article was first published at healthandcare.scot

Two of the biggest challenges in the healthcare landscape in Scotland – and globally – are infection control and minimising their carbon footprint. Healthandcare.scot has been meeting a company that believes viricidal uniforms will keep staff safer at the same time as reducing the environmental impact of having to use water at high temperatures to keep people’s workwear clean.

Kyle Mclean, Commercial Director of ParcMed, says virucidal uniforms – with silver ions woven into the material to act as an antimicrobial barrier – can be an important first line of defence for staff.

“We were caught short really when the pandemic hit – we weren’t really geared up for something of this scale. So we’ve taken this technology called BioGarde, which kills viruses on a material, from New Zealand where they provide about 60-70% of the healthcare uniforms.”

Testing the material against covid-19 was a priority and the BioGarde technology was found to be 99.9% effective at killing covid-19 within two hours.

Research by Professor Katie Laird from De Montfort University in Leicester found that, untreated, the virus can last up to three days on materials used in healthcare environments.

Professor Laird said:

“Our findings show that three of the most commonly used textiles in healthcare pose a risk for transmission of the virus. We now know that the virus can survive up to 72 hours on some textiles and that it can transfer to other surfaces too.

“This research has reinforced my recommendation that all healthcare uniforms should be washed on site at hospitals or at an industrial laundry.”

She explained that if healthcare workers are taking these standard uniforms home, traces of the virus are then left on other surfaces far from clinical settings.

Environmental benefits

Mr Mclean said that while their uniform offers a unique virucidal material to protect patients and clinicians from spreading infection, at the same time ParcMed is working to reduce the carbon footprint of healthcare materials.

In her work, Professor Laird found that the virus tolerated up to 60°C, and only became inactive at 67°C, meaning cold washes cannot be used to kill it.

Separately, a UK government report found that heating contributes over a third of the UK’s carbon emissions on average, and that hot water is “particularly significant” contributor in health, hospitality, emergency services and education sectors.

It is estimated that 90% of the energy used from a load of washing is spent heating the water.

Mr Mclean explains that their uniforms could lower the negative impact of the healthcare sector on the climate as, with the virucidal activity of the material itself, they do not require such high temperatures to keep clean.

He said that their material can be washed as low as 30°C, adding that interviews with NHS workers revealed many do not get changed on site despite guidance, instead, even during the pandemic, opting to travel home in their uniform after a shift and wash it at home.

“You can't really blame them, doing long shifts, but there's an alarming number,” Mr Mclean explained. “And on the way home they may go to the shop for food en route, still in with their uniforms.

“Some  workers were getting changed on the doorstep because they didn’t want to go spread any infection from their clothes.

“So we really think there is a strong case for healthcare workers to wear uniforms with the antimicrobial barrier built in. It’s not just covid-19, it’s other airborne viruses and bacteria: E. Coli, pneumococcus – typical bugs that healthcare workers encounter regularly.”

Testing has found that lowering washing temperature from 40°C to 30°C can reduce energy costs by 38%, the equivalent of taking 388,000 cars off the road.

Since they are washed on a cool setting, Mr Mclean said these virucidal uniforms are already more sustainable than current uniforms:

“NHS uniforms now are very cheap, they’re not great quality, and they don’t last very long – and wearers say that. They are virtually disposable, so they don’t have a very long life. Our uniforms last longer, the material can be washed at cool temperatures with a 100-wash guarantee.

“That doesn’t sound very much, but that guarantee is for the BioGarde, virucidal activity to be 100% effective, this starts to wane after 100 washes, but is still remains high – even at 150 washes it’s still over 90% effective. The point is, even after that, it’s not the end of life for the uniform.”

In terms of costing, Mr Mclean acknowledges that the unforms “are not cheap, but that’s for the innovation,” and that with the ability to wash at 30°C, the NHS will be able to save. He added that by reducing the infection spread, these uniforms will help prevent illness and deaths and ultimately reduce running costs of hospitals.

A recent study found the healthcare sector contributes between as much as 5% of human’s environmental impact globally. At a national level, the Scottish government is committed to achieving a net zero NHS by 2040.