Sterile Services Department (SSD)
About Our Service
The Sterile Services Department at the University Hospital of North Durham provides a highly specialised, in-house decontamination service for reusable surgical instruments and instrument trays used across all County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust sites.
SSD provides a 24/7 service decontaminating and sterilising surgical instruments that are used in the Operating Theatres, Clinics, and Wards, and is an essential support function to enable the day to day running of the Trust’s surgical activities.
Through their hard work, the SSD team ensures that surgical procedures remain lifesaving rather than life threatening.
Reusable surgical instruments and equipment are sent straight from the Operating Theatres, Clinics, and Wards back to the SSD for decontamination, which involves cleaning, disinfecting, and sterilising the instruments to ensure they are safe for further use.
SSD technicians will clean and decontaminate the instruments using fully automated Washer Disinfector machines.
Our technicians then inspect every individual instrument before assembling and packing the surgical trays, which are then processed through high temperature steam autoclaves to ensure the instruments are sterilised. Each step of the process for every instrument is electronically tracked and controlled to ensure complete traceability throughout the process.
Sterile Services offers a career pathway with opportunities to start as a technician, which can then lead to supervisory and management roles.
The department is fully compliant with the requirements of ISO13485 Standard of Medical Devices, and is registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for compliance with Medical Devices Directives.
Key Facts
Key Staff Contact Details
Anne Morson, Sterile Services Manager
0191 333 2180
