What is a Sluice Room?

A sluice room (often referred to as a dirty utility room) is a closed room found in healthcare facilities such as hospitals and nursing homes, that is specifically designed for the disposal of human waste products and disinfection of associated items.

Human waste products such as urine, vomit and faecal matter can often be infectious, so it is vital that sluice rooms are planned carefully, to ensure that waste is disposed of safely, reducing the risk of cross infection.

What happens in a sluice room?

When delivering care to patients, many items can become contaminated with bodily fluids; steps are taken in a sluice room to ensure that this waste is properly disposed of, without any risk of cross contamination.

There are several reasons a healthcare professional may need to use a sluice room, these include:

Discarding of disposables such as used bedpans, vomit bowls and wipes

Disinfecting medical equipment and surgical instruments

Storing clean products such as bedpans and wipes for use

When a healthcare professional enters a sluice room carrying an item contaminated with bodily fluids, it is essential that this is disposed of quickly, with minimal human contact. There are several different ways that healthcare facilities dispose of human waste and the receptacles (some more effective than others). The method chosen will depend on whether the item is reusable or disposable.

Reusable Items

Reusable items, such as bedpans, jugs and washbowls need to be thoroughly disinfected before being reused, to ensure the patient is not exposed to any harmful bacteria. There are two options for cleaning reusable items:

Washing the item by hand

Cleaning the item in a thermal disinfection unit

Whilst traditionally all healthcare facilities used reusable items, there is now a large body of evidence to demonstrate that this is now not the most effective method of waste disposal. Primarily this is because reusable items are often not fully decontaminated after being washed, posing a serious infection risk to the next patient who uses them.

Disposable Items

Disposable items, such as medical pulp, are only used once, consequently eliminating the risk of cross contamination. These items can be disposed of in clinical waste bins, however it is recommended that they are disposed of in a hospital macerator. Hospital macerators quickly dispose of medical pulp products and their contents by breaking waste down into a fine slurry before flushing it to drain. This is often regarded as the most hygienic method of waste disposal.

Once the waste and receptacle have been dealt with, healthcare professionals need to ensure that they are not transmitting bacteria. To do this they should first dispose of any personal protective equipment (PPE) such as their gloves and coveralls, they should then thoroughly decontaminate their hands and lower arms, to prevent any onward transfer of harmful organisms.