NHS Bottleless Case Study

Local Medical Water Production For A Greener NHS

Reducing the carbon and financial cost of sterile water in the NHS

The NHS is arguably the UK's proudest institution. In the remote highlands and islands of Scotland, the NHS faces enhanced logistical challenges when caring for its half a million inhabitants. Covid 19 showed us that logistics can be the largest challenge for all healthcare facilities.

The Problem

Today NHS HI use 2000 litres a month of sterile water to clean medical equipment that can then be reused, saving them millions a year and the environmental cost of purchase new equipment every time.

Purchasing bottled water is expensive and against the NHS's ambitious carbon lowering targets, with some bottles coming from as far away as India with large shipping costs per litre. The environmental footprint of sterile water alone is estimated to be 5.3 tons of CO2 per year, making water one of the least environmentally friendly commodities used in healthcare. Traditional on site purifiers were used previously, but proved unreliable and expensive over time.

The Solution

IF's technology produces sterile water on site, through its high speed yet low energy distillation process. One device can produce the water required to the standard needed at a fraction of the cost per litre and with no high transport carbon costs. The NHS Highlands alone can now, with a low carbon cost, be self surrifient in their medical water needs, making them more resiliant to unpredictable futures in healthcare.

Our shared goal is to increase the safety of rural private water supplies, and remove the need for environmentally damaging plastic bottles in the Highlands and Islands.

The Results

IF offers a transformative solution to the need for continuous hygiene and equipment sterilisation throughout NHS healthcare facilities, by providing a low-cost, mobile and easy to operate distillation device that produces Medical Type II water efficiently at point-of-use.

Our goal is to reduce the carbon and financial cost of accessing medical water leading to cleaner safer facilities and lower levels of cross contamination.