The sterile processing department at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is to undergo major renovations next year, the Bermuda Hospitals Board announced.

The BHB said the project, which will run from February to July 2025, will cost approximately $4.5 million.

It is to include the replacement of the unit’s floor, equipment and furniture as well as an upgrade of its infrastructure.

Sterile processing — a highly specialised cleaning process — is the sanitisation of equipment and items used in clinical care to ensure all items are completely safe for use.

The BHB said: “All surgical tools are cleaned and packaged in this area to support the over 9,000 surgeries undertaken at KEMH per year.

“Any items that are re-used across the hospitals are also processed through this department.”

Preston Swan, the BHB’s chief operating officer, said the upgrade was “long overdue” to deal with issues from equipment failure to flooding, with the equipment more than 14 years old and housed in an older part of the general wing.

He added: “A failure in SPD could impact our ability to deliver life-saving procedures and deliver safe care across our inpatient and outpatient service.”

During the upgrade, the hospital will use a temporary sterile processing area in the old surgical area of the KEMH’s general wing.

Mr Swan said there would be “some patient impact”, adding: “We anticipate there will be a reduction in the number of major elective surgeries undertaken in any one day, such as hips and knee replacements, as these are very instrument intensive.”

However, he said the hospital will be able to complete all emergency and time-sensitive surgical operations such as emergency Caesareans or cancer surgeries.

He added: “There will be less impact on procedures that don’t need much instrumentation, such as pain management, some cardiology procedures, endoscopy and urology procedures.”

Mr Swan apologised that there would “likely be fewer major elective surgeries during the first half of the year”.

He added: “We will continue to do all we can to minimise the patient impact across all our services.