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• £3 million worth of vaccines lost each year due to fridge failure, reports JPen Medical
  3 Jul 2008
  JPen Medical, UK market leader in on-site medical equipment testing and calibration, estimates that £3 million worth of vaccines will be ruined this year, owing to something as simple and avoidable as fridge failure.



• PHS Waterlogic Makes a Marque On Manchester
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  PHS Waterlogic, the UK’s leading supplier of water dispensers and coolers, has teamed up with United Utilities and Manchester Council to launch "Tap Into Water", a campaign to help restaurants and conference centres across Greater Manchester save up to 90% on drinking water costs, through the use of PHS Waterlogic’s Watermarques drinking water systems.



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News Archive

£3 million worth of vaccines lost each year due to fridge failure, reports JPen Medical

JPen Medical, UK market leader in on-site medical equipment testing and calibration, estimates that £3 million worth of vaccines will be ruined this year, owing to something as simple and avoidable as fridge failure.

From its experience in testing over 3,000 fridges per annum, JPen estimates that 10% of fridges fail each year. This often goes unnoticed when they fail out of hours or if they have faulty, or no, external indicators.

The implications are significant, both in terms of healthcare and finance.

Not only is the efficacy of stored vaccines jeopardised, risking harm to patient health, but there are also cost implications.  Following fridge failure, discarded vaccines must be re-purchased and the insurance costs associated with failure can be high.

A number of practices have seen their insurance premiums increase following claims for replacement vaccines, and some insurers insist that claimant’s fridges are tested every quarter, to minimise the risk of repeat claims.

Although on average a fridge will last between 6 and 8 years, as with all electrical equipment there is no guarantee.  It is not uncommon, for example, for JPen to fail equipment in its first year (in which case the practice can at least claim for a replacement under the product’s guarantee).

June to October is the peak time for fridge failures, due either to sustained, high Summer temperatures, or to the bulk storage of new vaccines.  The high number of flu vaccines delivered in October, for example, can often push fridges over the edge, that were already bordering on failure.

It is also surprising to see the number of domestic fridges being used in surgeries; the rationale being that, while they are known to be unsuitable for vaccines, the cheaper fridges can be used for specimens and act as an overflow.  With time and pressure for storage, however, vaccines often creep in to these unsuitable fridges, endangering efficacy.

JPen therefore recommends that fridges used for vaccine storage are designed for purpose and professionally tested at least once a year, to validate performance and provide an early indicator of pending failure.

The following tips will help to maintain the correct operation of vaccine fridges in between testing.

Ten Top Tips: Maintaining Vaccine Fridges

1. Always make sure the fridge holding your vaccines has a temperature monitor, to ensure vaccines are being kept within the prescribed temperature range of 2 to 8 degrees centigrade.

2. If there is no fan in your fridge, temperatures typically vary by 3 degrees from the top to the bottom. So play safe, always set the temperature to the mid range of 4-6 degrees centigrade.

3. Don’t keep your lunch in the fridge!  Door opening should be kept to a minimum. Opening the door increases the temperature, which causes the fridge to work harder and take time returning to the specified level. This will reduce the life of the fridge, and heavy and frequent temperature fluctuations may, of course, jeopardise vaccine efficacy

4. Avoid small fridges wherever possible. Smaller fridges have to work harder, and take longer to normalise the temperature again, after opening.
 
5. Make sure you use a medical fridge for your vaccines rather than a domestic one. The ideal fridge should have the following features:
o A temperature controller, for adjusting temperature, not just a temperature indicator
o A built-in fan, to maintain a consistent temperature throughout the compartment
o A lock

6. Fridge temperatures should be logged twice a day, in accordance with PCT guidelines

7. Make sure the fridge is not iced up. Ice build up hinders circulation, which leads to increased temperatures and accelerates breakdowns

8. Ensure locks are fully retracted before opening the door. Often doors are forced when the locking bar still protrudes, damaging seals and hinges.

9. Fridges are most likely to fail after a period of sustained high temperatures or when they have just been filled, as the cooling mechanism has to work hard to bring the temperature down to the specified level. So always keep a careful eye on temperature, particularly at these times.

10. Make sure your fridges are tested at least once a year, to validate performance and act as an early indicator of potential failure.