St. Mary’s Maternity Unit Poole Hospital
Air Conditioned Comfort for Mums To Be
_tcm46-84790.jpg "St. Mary’s Maternity Unit Poole Hospital(1).")
Whilst aware of the need to replace its St. Mary’s maternity unit with a completely new facility within the next five years, Poole Hospital NHS Trust nevertheless decided to provide improved facilities for patients within its present unit by the installation of Daikin VRV heat recovery air conditioning.
St Mary’s is the centre for all high risk maternity care in East Dorset and is fully equipped to meet the needs of women and babies with complications as well as those with normal pregnancies and births.
Building services within the maternity unit have been upgraded with Daikin VRV heat recovery air conditioning, installed by Cool Tec Services Ltd, Wareham while the special care unit remained open and fully operational with babies in its incubators. Four FXAQ wall mounted indoor fan coil units with capacities of 7.1kW (cooling) and 8.0kW (heating) are located in the 1st floor Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with further units in the two ground floor operating theatres, High Dependency Unit and delivery room. The 14HP VRV outdoor condensing unit is sited against an outside wall at ground level. Heat recovery is achieved by diverting exhaust heat from indoor units in cooling mode to areas requiring heat. Micro-processors balance system cooling and heating loads, enabling the compressors to operate at power levels 40 to 45% lower than the norm, maximising efficiency and minimising electrical consumption.
Each area of St. Mary’s is required to meet a specific environmental standard – a crucial factor in ensuring that patients are kept comfortable during their stay. Moreover, in the case of the NICU, the close monitoring of premature babies in a temperature stable environment is of paramount importance.
Commenting on the VRV installation, a Poole Hospital spokesman stated “the Trust has standardised on Daikin equipment for several reasons – its excellent value, operating efficiency, extended warranties and the after sales support offered by the company.” _tcm46-84792.jpg "St. Mary’s Maternity Unit Poole Hospital(2).")
