Commercial lighting manufacturer Whitecroft Lighting Ltd has been recognised for its work on ten of the emergency Covid-19 Nightingale Centres.
The NHS ProCure 22 (P22) framework has highlighted the speed and cost at which it supplied critical specialist healthcare lighting as part of the NHS’s rapid response to Covid-19.
Whitecroft not only met the exceptionally short deadlines dictated by the potential rapid spread and impact of the virus, but did so within the Framework’s usual capital and operational budgets.
The Nightingale Centres were emergency large-scale healthcare facilities constructed inside existing buildings, such as Manchester Central and the Excel Conference Centre in London, as well as emergency wards set up in existing hospitals.
Converted in just a matter of days at the height of the first wave of the pandemic, the Nightingale Centres were designed to treat Covid-19 patients, and support mainstream NHS Hospitals with the hope of isolating the spread of the virus.
A number of the Nightingale venues were large, cavernous spaces never intended for clinical use, which created a new set of challenges for Whitecroft.
But as a UK manufacturer, Whitecroft holds lighting inventory in stock, and was able to quickly review what was available, and draw on its long experience of lighting healthcare to select and adapt products accordingly.
Three lighting solutions that incorporated wall fixed up-lighting, as opposed to the usual hospital ceiling down-lighting, were adapted, giving the NHS and its contractors some flexibility for each Nightingale environment.
Some of these adaptations included customising lighting brackets and bodies to aid access for disinfecting for infection control, and LED’s with a high Ra number for truer colour, which assists in the diagnosis and assessment of patients as it presents a truer more natural skin tone.
In total 5,000 bespoke bedhead luminaires were designed, approved, released into volume manufacture and installed on site, within just five days of the initial enquiry.
Karen Bramman, Healthcare Director at Whitecroft Lighting, said: “To be recognised for the speed and cost efficiency of our work on the Nightingales is very satisfying, because the unique set of circumstances and deadlines were in many ways the ultimate test.
“Fortunately, Whitecroft’s specialist knowledge and experience in the healthcare sector, combined with the tenacity, resilience and ability of all the people involved meant we could react effectively when needed.”
Sarah Ricketts, BAM Construction and The Chair of the P22 Framework working group, said: “We continue to be amazed by the dedication our recommended suppliers offer the framework, especially through these extraordinary times.
“They consistently step up to all the challenges bought on by the pandemic and remain proactive and enthusiastic delivering a superb service.”