Atlas Clean Air provides turnkey aseptic suite to Royal Lancaster Infirmary
Specialist cleanroom contractor Atlas Clean Air was commissioned by the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust in early 2007 to provide a full ‘turnkey’ solution for the new aseptic suite, itself part of an entirely new pharmacy department.
The prestigious new unit was officially opened recently by Keith Ridge, chief pharmaceutical officer at the UK’s Department of Health.
The Atlas Clean Air package included cleanroom design and construction, full systems commissioning, compliance testing and documentary validation to comply with regulatory authority requirements.
In addition to the design and build project, Atlas provided a range of specialist equipment, including a range of recently upgraded pharmacy isolators, manufactured by Atlas Clean Air, and incorporating the latest technology in automated pressure decay testing.
The company believes that an important element of modern cleanroom technology projects is the need to ‘future proof’ the design as much as possible, with emphasis on recent developments in ‘clean air’ compliance under European Directives and GMP guidelines.
Continuous monitoring of aseptic cleanroom facilities and pharmacy isolators is in its infancy but the Royal Lancaster project incorporates both automated particle monitoring systems and pressure testing facilities on isolation and containment systems
“The end result has provided a unit suitable for both our current and future needs,” said Phil Tidy, principal pharmacist (aseptic services) at the hospital. “The turnkey approach has undoubtedly helped in making the project a success as it meant that we had a single specialist contractor ensuring all the relevant pieces of the design came together properly and on time.”