Don’t settle for less than 100% protection

Our philosophy is simple - Patient safety is paramount, so don't risk it, bin it.

Leaving curtains in place for long periods of time creates a potential source of harmful bacteria. Even with antimicrobial coatings, no curtains offer 100% protection. It also promotes a false sense of security.

Opal disposable curtains are durable and have shown that they can remain hanging for a year or more. However we would recommend each hospital carries out its own assessment to set the frequency at which the curtains should be changed. A regular and responsive programme makes your hospital safer, faster.

Nottingham University state in their report, which was concluded in April 2016:

‘The aim of this study was to provide Opal Contracts with a better understanding of the interactions of bacteria in relation to disposable privacy curtains used in the health care environment. A review of the literature identified published testing methodology including ISO and Japanese standards and from this we adopted a methodology rationale based on these standards. The project focussed on two disposable curtains types provided by Opal; antimicrobial vs non antimicrobial coated polypropylene (non-fabric). These disposable curtains have now mainly replaced traditional laundered woven fabric privacy curtains. Along with the economic benefits of using disposable curtains Opal Contracts also aim to raise both customer and health care workers (HCW’s) awareness to antimicrobial resistance. This latter study, although less controlled because known counts were not applied, did mimic better the way curtains would be contaminated on a regular basis in hospitals through handling and showed that the antimicrobially coated curtains did not appear to prevent the presence of bacteria any better than the non-treated ones.’

In 2014, an investigation took place at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust into an outbreak of Group A streptococcus HAI. The curtains involved were treated with an antimicrobial substance and they concluded, ‘we recommend that during an outbreak of GAS infection all patient curtains should be changed as part of the enhanced decontamination procedures’.