INTELLIGENT FABRICS: HUNTER APPAREL Solutions in Derry has been in business since 1936.
This once traditional shirt manufacturer is now at the leading edge of so-called “smart” uniform technology. The workwear producer has teamed up with Itronik, an electronics firm in Letterkenny, to develop a uniform for use in the healthcare sector.
The uniform has a small radio frequency identification device embedded in the fabric. The device monitors hand hygiene in staff, recording how often and for how long they wash their hands. The information is read and recorded by a control unit mounted at the handbasin.
“Hand-washing has been identified as the single biggest way of reducing hospital- acquired infections,” says Simon Hunter, the managing director of Hunter Apparel Solutions. “Up to now, there was no real way of measuring frequency or thoroughness. This device will enable standards to be set for the first time and for compliance to be audited properly.”
“We have just finished a very successful trial at Antrim Area Hospital,” Hunter says. “The device does not add huge cost to the uniforms and it has the potential to save hospitals and other healthcare units a lot of money by cutting down on the instances of infection and the need for wards to be closed for deep cleaning.”
Hunter has long had an interest in the use of ‘intelligent’ fabrics, such as those that repel water. In the case of the medical uniforms, the fabric used is anti-microbial, helping to prevent the colonisation of bugs such as MRSA.
“The combination of hand- hygiene monitoring technology and the anti-microbial fabric gives our product its unique innovative edge,” he says.
The two companies were introduced by a mutual contact in the University of Ulster and the project received funding under the InterTrade Ireland Innova programme.
“We were a perfect match, with both companies bringing their own expertise,” says James Bonner, the managing director of Itronik.
While the emphasis so far has been on staff using the technology, it could also be used to monitor visitors to intensive care or isolation wards, he says.
