L&R Care Home Podiatry – Decontamination Process

“Decontamination Process and Sterilisation of Instruments”

Here at L&R Care Home Podiatry UK we make sure all instruments used during an appointment undergo sterilisation in line with the Standards for Decontamination of Reusable Podiatry Instruments as set out by The Royal College of Podiatry.

It is estimated that 10% of the 2.9 million people living with diabetes will have a diabetic foot ulcer at some point in their lives. As such it is essential to adhere to these guidelines to keep patients safe from contamination and infection and increased risk of additional comorbidities. This underscores the importance of Care Home residents receiving footcare from HCPC Qualified Podiatrists.

Our Process

All instruments go through the following procedure to ensure they are appropriately decontaminated between use:

Manual cleaning- scrubbing of all instruments.
Ultrasonic cleaners- all instruments are put through an ultrasonic cleaner for the necessary amount of time.
Rinsing, drying, care and inspection of instruments.
Instruments are then sealed inside an autoclave pouch.
The instruments are packed into autoclave pouches and put through our vacuum autoclaves at 134- 137 degrees for three minutes, which ensure the instruments are fully sterilised.
The autoclave pouch has an inbuilt verification indicator to quality check sterilisation.
Safely stored and documented, instruments will remain sterile for up to one year.