When the owners of an award-winning nursing home decided to upgrade the 37-bed property they found that Marshall-Tufflex’s Odyssey Bio Trunking Solutions provided the perfect answer for meeting the project’s cable management requirements and delivering a welcome infection control element.

Altadore Retirement Nursing Home, in Glenageary, Dublin, recently upgraded residents’ rooms with a new nurse call system, electrical outlets, light switches and phone points. The upgrade required the rooms to be re-wired, a major task given that existing electrical services were mounted into the bedroom walls and required moving due to the new bed positions.

However, following discussions with Marshall-Tufflex’s sole Irish distributor, Core Electrical Ltd, it was decided to channel all power, nurse call and data cables through trunking, negating the need to chase cables into walls, making the job quicker and cleaner. It also provides the added benefit of being able to add further power sockets or light switches to the trunking module at any time with no disruption.

Altadore selected Marshall-Tufflex’s unique, all-curved, Odyssey trunking profile due to its good looks, as home manager Mr James O’Reilly explained: “In most cases trunking is square shaped and offers little aesthetic appeal. We went for the Odyssey profile because it is nicely curved and is more aesthetically pleasing. We are very happy with it and feel it is a very good solution for existing nursing homes needing to upgrade wiring systems without the fuss and mess of chasing a lot of walls for cables. A lot of other homes will have the same issues that we had and Odyssey has solved these for us.”

Mr O’Reilly took the decision to upgrade from the standard Odyssey profile to Odyssey Bio, which has an antimicrobial silver-ion compound added to the PVC-U at point of manufacturer. Bio Trunking Solutions are proven to destroy 99.9% of potentially fatal bugs such as MRSA, Klebsiella Pneumonia, E-Coli and Salmonella. The antimicrobial element makes them perfect for healthcare environments such as nursing homes where cross-contamination is of concern.

“The antimicrobial element, from an infection control point of view, just added another string to the system’s bow,” said Mr O’Reilly. “The increase in cost was negligible and we are very happy with the system. It has done us proud. Indeed, we are in the process of planning a new-build extension to Altadore and will use Odyssey Bio in that building as well.”

John McDonagh, of Core Electrical, said Mr O’Reilly and his team were quick to recognise the benefits of specifying the Odyssey profile plus the Bio antimicrobial solution. “They took the information on board and thought it was an excellent idea. They understood the benefits of Bio quickly, thought the concept was excellent and it has worked out very well for them,” said Mr McDonagh.

Not only has Odyssey ticked all the boxes in terms of looks and infection control, it has proved a hard-wearing and flexible solution that neatly and efficiently delivers power, lighting and the all-important nurse call system via 1.5m of trunking running vertically to the right of each bed.

Marshall-Tufflex’s Odyssey Bio Trunking Solution is unique not only because it is the only all-curved trunking on the market, but the antimicrobial agent is mixed into the PVC-U during manufacture, rather than applied as a surface coating that can rub off or get scratched. By introducing the active agent during the manufacturing process, Marshall-Tufflex can deliver a system that retains 100% of its bug-busting qualities throughout its installed life, even if scratched. Specifying Odyssey Bio is a particularly smart and effective choice because its rounded profile deters clutter, aiding cleaning regimes.

Email: marketing@marshall-tufflex.com