Trail-blazing innovation is being trialled as part of a local hospital’s battle against germs.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn has been selected by the American company, Xenex, to be one of only two UK hospital’s to trial their ultra-violet disinfection machines.

The germ fighting ‘robots’ take cleaning and decontamination to the next level by using high intensity UV-C rays to kill infectious germs in rooms vacated by patients.

Doctor Ian Hosein, Interim Associate Medical Director for Infection Prevention and Control, said: “The UV-C adds to the hospital’s readiness to combat infectious germs such as norovirus, c.difficile and Ebola virus.

“For this initial trial we are targeting isolation rooms which need to be deep cleaned before the next patient arrives. This could be extended to vacant bays on wards if safety protocols can be put in place.

“At The Queen Elizabeth Hospital we pride ourselves in continuously looking for ways to improve and provide the best care for patients. The Xenex robots demonstrate to both staff and patients that we are continually looking at new ways of killing harmful germs.”

Dr Mark Stibich, Chief Scientific Officer at Xenex Disinfection Services, said: “Xenex germ-zapping robots are already in use in more than 250 hospitals in the United States, with infection rate reductions of greater than 50 percent reported in medical journals.”