Clean air in Healthcare | Hospitals | GP surgeries | Care homes | Dentists | Veterinary practices | Waiting rooms
Some UK councils are funding air quality training and toolkits for GPs (Islington & Tunbridge Wells are two such examples) in order to raise awareness of the impact air quality has on patient health. We would like to see this rolled out across the country.
Has your practice been hit with high absence rates?
GPs (like most other organisations) have been impacted by staff illnesses, especially in the winter months. Clinics and consulting rooms often have ‘closed windows’ policies to protect patient confidentiality so if you're not filtering the air in these rooms, you're exposing staff and patients to airborne pathogens.
Mechanical ventilation is designed to dilute the air rather than remove particles so if you would like to reduce bioaerosols from the air, you need to consider HEPA filtration. While filtration won't clear all viruses in the air, it will significantly lower the infection load as well as reducing allergens from the air.
Filtering the air to protect staff and patients costs less than you think
We recently sold our Blast Mini air purifiers to a GP medical practice near Manchester to fully equipped its clinic (including their university practice) with clean air.
Independent review site, HouseFresh, recently wrote that Smart Air’s Blast Mini outperformed all 73 air cleaners tested!
We estimate this GP practice invested (based on the number of patients) in clean air at a cost just 40p per patient** They would like to see this rolled out to the other practices within their Patient Care Network (PCN). If this happens, imagine 80,000+ patients and 300+ staff having access to cleaner air!
To work out the 'per patient' cost for your practice, divide the cost of purchasing portable air cleaners for all areas by the number of registered patients in the practice.
We can advise on the kind and number of units to fully equip your space with cleaner and filtered air
| GP sample illustration per treatment room | SA600 | Blast Mini |
|---|---|---|
| Room dimensions (m²) | 15 | 15 |
| Ceiling height (m) | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| No of Air Changes an Hour (ACH) | 6.8 | 12.5 |
| Carbon footprint (8hrs/day, 5 days a week)* | 3.9 kg CO²e | 35.4 kg CO²e |
| Cost per patient** | £0.41 | £0.42 |
| Yearly running cost (8hrs/day, 5 days a week) | £4.60 | £42 |
* Less than a desktop monitor. Portable air cleaners have a lower carbon footprint than increasing mechanical ventilation and due to the low wattage, the Smart Air products are substantially lower than other brands in healthcare settings
** Here's a quick and easy way to work out the 'per patient' cost for your clinic. Divide the cost of purchasing portable air cleaners across all areas of your practice, by the number of registered patients. Don't forget to include the waiting areas, and make sure you are aware how many air changes you will get at a noise level that can be tolerated by staff and patients. So for this illustration with Blast Minis and SA600s, it cost £2,500 (6 treatment rooms, a waiting room, a reception area and a staff room) to kit out this clinic and with 6,000 registered patients, the cost per patient is 42p.
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Help us to advocate for cleaner air in GP surgeries
If you are a patient of a GP practice that doesn't use air filtration, we’d like to help you get in touch with them and advocate for cleaner air. Whether you are looking for an email template, some more research sources to back up your claims, or information on how quiet our units are, we hope this page helps you.
