Today, May 12th, 2020 is the bicentennial anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale. It also marks the continuing celebration of International Year of the Nurse and Midwife.
Today, we owe a great deal to her founding philosophy and to the nursing profession following in her name in the fight against Covid-19. Tonight, along with the nation at 8.30pm, we will ‘shine a light’ in her memory and in support of nurses across the country.
Florence was one of the first to recognise the importance of basic hygiene when it came to infection prevention and control, recorded in her seminal work Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not, published in 1860. At this time her teaching has even greater resonance, “Every nurse ought to be careful to wash her hands very frequently during the day.”
As a company, we’d like to think that our own core missions, pioneering better health and sustainability initiatives, developing hygienic reusable and refillable water solutions and protecting the environment, would meet with her approval. Throughout our time as a company, which includes long working partnerships with the UK water industry, we have also consistently championed water's importance to good health and as the healthiest form of hydration.
In recent years we’ve also been working with a growing number of hospitals across the UK, helping them with solutions to their hydration needs. It came to our attention that concerns over cross-contamination in clinical sections of our hospitals meant that staff could not take drinking containers into these critical areas, where the need for regular staff hydration is essential.
By partnering with key NHS Trusts, NDA Packaging Services has worked diligently to develop a reusable drinking bottle that has been given approval for use in clinical environments. Our solution continues to expand its reach across NHS Trusts in the UK, making hygienic hydration a practical and much needed support to hard-working staff.
Our ability likewise to supply industry-leading water refilling stations, including one with an optional fully integrated hydration solution – HydraChills unique 2-in-1 water dispensing and reusable bottle combination - is also taking our NHS relationship to new levels.
Side by side, our sister company at HydraChill Ltd aims to develop world-class refilling solutions which help improve free hygienic access to fresh chilled and filtered mains-fed water for ‘on-the go’ environments, be they places of work or exercise.
Choosing to link directly to pipe-fed mains water ensures the water is fresh and hygienic. It isn’t stored and doesn’t become stagnant. UK tap water is amongst the best in the world and is the most regulated drink out there.
It’s also much more environmentally friendly, minimising carbon footprint and waste to landfill. Encouraging users to ‘take responsibility’ for a bottle, retain and re-use it at a conveniently located re-filling unit, can save hospitals tens of thousands of pounds on the cost of single use disposable cups.
Despite the challenging times we have all encountered in recent months, we still managed to reach out to NHS staff at key times during the crises, even though our own production had temporarily to be stopped. From stock we were able to donate a number of bottles at key moments. One such call came from the Intensive Care Unit at Neville Hall Hospital, Abergavenny, part of the Aneurin Bevan Health Board Trust, desperate for the very hydration solution we provide. Our support was but a small gesture for the lifesaving work they and staff across the UK were committed to on all our behalves.
As life hopefully returns to normal thanks to their endeavours, we will continue to play our part in ensuring supply and better access to hygienic hydration solutions, whether in schools, sport venues, in the workplace or importantly too across the NHS.
We’re passionate about our mission and efforts to develop first-rate solutions that facilitate better hydration and improve water refilling availability. It’s a mission we hope Florence Nightingale herself would have approved.
#InternationalYearNursesAndMidwives #water-hydration #hygienic-hydration #nhs-hydration
Photo: © Florence Nightingale Museum, UK
