Why Annual Medical Fridge Servicing Is Essential
When it comes to your medical or vaccine fridge, annual servicing is absolutely essential – whether you are based at a GP or Doctor’s Surgery, Pharmacy, Hospital, Medical Centre, Vaccination Clinic, Nursing or Residential Care Home, Sexual Health Clinic, Occupational Health Setting, or even a Veterinary Practice.
For you, this means taking proactive steps to schedule your annual service for all relevant fridges, document your records, and oversee that maintenance is completed on time to help safeguard your compliance and your patients’ safety.
These fridges store vital medication and vaccines, which could potentially save someone’s life, so the last thing you need is for them to break down unexpectedly or not store your medical supplies at a safe temperature.
Let’s dive into the importance of annual Medical Fridge Servicing for keeping your vaccines and medications safe.
Compliance with UK Regulations & Insurance Policies
Compliance with UK regulations and insurance policies is one of the most important aspects of annual Medical & Vaccine Fridge Servicing. There’s also a very good reason to follow these regulations.
According to the NHS Green Book, (which covers vaccines and vaccination procedures for immunisation against preventable infectious diseases) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC), (which requires you to prove that you are taking safety measures to maintain the cold chain), as well as insurance policies, Medical Fridges that store vaccines and medication at controlled temperatures are required to undergo annual full Servicing and Calibration.
This is to demonstrate that your fridge has been properly maintained, so that you have the assurance that it will safely store your vaccines and medications at the correct temperature, and you can have the confidence that any insurance claims you may need to make won’t be voided due to cold chain disruptions.
Preventative Maintenance
Speaking of proper maintenance, by booking in your annual Medical or Vaccine Fridge Servicing, engineers can test all the major components of your fridge, including door seals, gaskets, fans, thermometers, control panels, power supply, battery backups, and cooling mechanisms.
By thoroughly checking all of the above components and more, you can detect minor issues before they become major problems, preventing breakdowns and temperature fluctuations, whilst increasing the energy efficiency of your fridge. If you encounter any issues during your annual service, these can be effectively resolved with comprehensive repairs.
Medical & Vaccine Fridge Calibration
By testing and calibrating your medical or vaccine fridge to traceable national standards, you can have the peace of mind that your thermometers are displaying the temperature correctly, without the risk of false readings.
Over time, these sensors will naturally drift, potentially by only a few degrees Celsius, but regular calibration of your fridges is essential to ensure accurate readings and keep them operating at a safe temperature. Ideally, your medical or vaccine fridges should maintain temperatures between 2°C and 8°C; otherwise, you risk losing valuable stock or compromising your patients’ safety if temperature spikes are undetected.
Cost-Effective in the Long-Run
Whilst annual Medical or Vaccine Fridge Servicing involves an ongoing investment, in the long run, it can save you money.
For you, the benefits include extending the lifespan of your fridge, so that you don’t need to purchase a costly replacement; detecting issues early to reduce downtime and prevent costly breakdown repairs, especially in out-of-hours emergencies; and avoiding the loss of expensive vaccines or medications.
What Happens During Medical & Vaccine Fridge Servicing?
Typically taking around half an hour, our manufacturer-trained and qualified EBME engineers will complete your medical & vaccine fridge service by performing a comprehensive 16-point test on all major components, making sure it is set up correctly to run as efficiently as possible and thoroughly checking for any issues. Once we have calibrated your fridge to traceable national standards, we will provide you with UKAS-traceable certification for compliance and evidence of meeting your GMS contract requirements.
Additionally, we will provide you with recommendations for daily maintenance and support your staff so that they fully understand your fridge’s daily operations and feel confident handling essential maintenance tasks.
Whether your fridge is a Lec Medical, Labcold, Coolmed, or Shoreline Medical, we guarantee that your service will be carried out to the highest standards.
Book Your Annual Medical & Vaccine Fridge Service Today
With over 20 years of industry experience, SafeContractor approval, and ISO 9001 accreditation, you can rest assured your Medical & Vaccine Fridges are in safe hands with Seal Calibration Ltd. Your Medical & Vaccine Fridge Service can be completed as part of your Medical Equipment Service Contract, during which we can also complete Medical PAT Testing for your medical and non-medical electrical devices, EICR Testing for your premises, and On Site Calibration for all of your medical equipment.
Simply give us a call on 0115 906 3131 or use our contact form to book your annual Medical & Vaccine Fridge Servicing appointment at a time and date that suits your schedule.
Final Thoughts for Vaccine Fridge Servicing & Maintenance
At Seal Calibration Ltd, we complete Fridge Servicing in conjunction with some of the leading UK vaccine fridge manufacturers. Plus, with pharmacy fridge servicing having been upgraded from a guideline to a requirement, this is a service we complete on a daily basis. To increase the lifespan of your fridge, comply with insurance requirements, protect your vaccines and satisfy CQC, Vaccine Fridge Servicing is built into your annual equipment maintenance schedule.
Outside of your annual service, our mobile engineers carry out a multitude of running repairs to vaccine fridges across the UK. Door seals, digital controllers, replacement locks and keys, lights, feet, and door adjustments are some of the most regularly requested repairs. If you have an issue with your vaccine fridge or simply are a customer of ours and would like some advice on which model is the most reliable, robust and will last you the longest, don’t hesitate to call us.