Dr Bill Warrilow

Dr Bill Warrilow, Senior Partner & Lead GP, The Charing Practice.

How did you first hear about the technology?

It was through an industry colleague, Dr Taylor at Lenham Surgery who told us that they’d heard about it and I’d been looking for something that would help us with this problem. He told us about Radic8 VIRUSKILLER™ devices so we looked into it and the more we heard about it, the more it was exactly what we were looking for so we put in an order. So yea, it was on a colleagues recommendation.

What key factors made you decide to install the technology?

The key thing was there was a study demonstrating its effectiveness, and the fact that the units allowed us to look at our legacy environment - because this is a purpose build medical centre, built in the mid-90s, none of these buildings were built with airflow in mind, so the risk of vapour contagion was not something that came into the design brief of the architects. So we needed something that was going to be able to pretty much take the air - and take stagnant space that had to remain stagnant so for ultrasound etc and then clean it. We liked the fact we could look at the device, look at the square meterage of the room and match the device to the room, and create a safe space for our staff to work, which is something we noticed in our pharmacy at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak - we had contagion in our dispensary where lots of staff work in close proximity and because its where drugs are stored it has to be temperature controlled and you can’t just have it open to the environment (i.e. windows), it has to be air conditioned and once again the air conditioning is about conditioning the air to the right temperature but not about refreshing the air, so a lot of it is recycled air which is clearly a major risk with managing coronavirus. So to keep our staff safe it was important as well as keeping our patients safe.

How easy have you found the technology to install and use?

Incredibly easy. Just plug and play pretty much. Also in terms of the expected duty cycle before we need to change things it’s going to serve us for years - it will certainly see us through this coronavirus spell even though we expect it to be a year or so before this challenge is over, these devices will see us through that and then help us with other things moving forward. So we thought it was worth investing in for the long term.

How do you think GP surgeries can benefit from installing?

It allows you to keep patients safe and allows you to keep your staff safe. I think the installation doesn’t require any rebuilding or reengineering of your existing footprint - so it's easily added to what you’ve got. So from that point of view we found it really really easy to do.

What other measures have you introduced as part of your Covid safe
plan?

We’ve introduced mandatory mask wearing within the practice, so that staff and patients and even staff who aren’t in patient facing roles wear masks to keep each other safe. Number 2 anybody entering the building has temperature checked and is quizzed on the standard questions for symptoms of infection. Anybody who has a fever or symptoms is seen in a different part of the building - we have a dedicated suite for patients, even if their fever is because of their ear infection, throat infection - we wouldn’t take the chance that it isn’t Covid related. We’ve pretty much turned into a two zone setup. Patients are largely dealt with over the phone or by internet link and those that need to be seen who have symptoms of concern they’re seen in the hot zone. The others that need their wound dressing, blood test, ECG etc they’ll be seen in the routine area. And as you’ll have seen today we’re undertaking building works to create a new entrance, so that patients coming in for non-urgent planned work will come in and leave one way - so one flow, and we’re going to set up the windows in such a way so it will encourage airflow through the building which means corridor spaces will be free of stagnant air. In the rooms we will be relying on the VIRUSKILLER™ units.

A word on the importance of gaining public trust in coming into the surgery again, given the rise of people being ill at home etc?

I think that’s been a big challenge. I must admit we’ve been very fortunate at the practice, we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the patients about this, because we adopted many of our measures back in April so for the patients that did need to come in following an online assessment, we were able to do so.

We use VIRUSKILLER™ for reducing the background risk of contagion and we have a higher level of confidence that we can tell patients we’ve done everything we can and the feedback we’ve had from patients has been universally positive, they’ve all felt safe. We’ve often been favourably compared to the local hospital where they’ve felt safer coming here than they were going to many other places for treatment. This technology is part of a package of really doing what we can.

What stood out to you about Radic8 VIRUSKILLER™ vs other air purification systems?

For me the Korean studies were very helpful because there are a lot of people who make claims about what they’re able to do with their devices, but to have independent laboratories certify that this does indeed remove viruses and make it safe was for me really important. I’m unaware of any other products currently enjoying the same results. It’s also been approved by the NHS Devices agency which is also significant. So I think - if those things weren’t available would i maybe have still been interested? Yes. But in terms of persuading my partners - two of my very skeptical partners were persuaded we should invest on the basis that they have been independently tested and demonstrated to be effective.

How have your staff reacted to the technology?

Staff have actually come to me independently and grateful that we have taken so many steps to keep them safe. A lot of them feel safer coming to work than they do going to the shops or the hairdressers etc. You’d think coming to work in a place where sick people go you’d feel worried about it, but staff have volunteered to come up to me and they appreciate it and these units are evidence of us taking those extra steps to keep them safe. It’s part of health & safety and all the rest of it, but its nice to be at the cutting edge of these things.

How have VIRUSKILLER™ units changed the way you think about quality & safety of indoor air?

I think I was already very aware of the worry and it was a significant concern of how we’re going to manage that. These have been really valuable extra string to the bow. Because otherwise the best you can do is open windows and doors but over the winter that raises questions over a safe working environment and clinical space for patients. So there’s nothing quite like these units at the moment.

Another thing to add away from Covid is that when we are doing minor operations and we do cautery with a hyfrecator it creates a plume of smoke an that smoke contains carcinogenic substances and it also potentially can contain viable HIV and other viral material. So having a device that actually extracts that air, cleans it and recirculates it over the operating space will actually make our operating space safer. So even once Covid has gone we will definitely continue using these long term. I also think that when you look at the waiting room - waiting rooms have always been an area where you know people are coughing and spluttering and its very likely that once concerns about coronavirus pass, people will no longer wear masks, but those risks haven’t gone away, so having something which is sufficiently robust to be able to exchange that air on a frequent basis, I think that is going to be good and I think awareness of air quality as a factor of risk is something we are going to manage better going risk. Because coronavirus is absolutely airborne. 90% of the contagion we see people getting infected has been as a result of airborne contagion. Very little of it seems to be coming from what happens when you touch stuff, so I think managing the air is going to be crucial.