468 
An Edinburgh-based health team in the UK has been awarded for its work to protect patients undergoing surgery.
More than seven million surgical instruments are sterilised each year by the 109-strong team at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, to make sure operations can go ahead safely.
It is the first public sector service to receive a top grade award from the Chartered Quality Institute, the NHS said.
Dr Charles Swainson, medical director at NHS Lothian, said: “This unit is a really important part of ensuring that surgery can be performed safely and quickly, and the staff have done a fantastic job in driving improvements themselves.”
He added: “It’s great to see their efforts being recognised in this way.”
The team was recognised for increasing the level of equipment being made safe from 200 to 340 batches a day.
The NHS said the team also managed to slash the amount of time taken to process equipment by 30%, saving more than one entire day on the normal time.
Copyright Press Association 2008
