Gibotech is supplying equipment to Sweden's first fully automated sterilization center

Region Skåne is in the process of modernizing a hospital that will, among other things, house Sweden’s first fully automated central sterilization unit. Gibotech is supplying, among other things, robotic cells and sterile storage facilities.

Just across the strait, Region Skåne is in the process of expanding its hospital with new, modern buildings. These buildings will house, among other things, a fully automated central sterilization unit—the first of its kind in Sweden.

Gibotech's contribution to the fully automated sterilization center consists of:

• Five robotic cells distributed across the contaminated, clean, and sterile areas.
• Runways.
• A mini buffer warehouse.
• A large sterile storage facility.
• Tracks for both carts and baskets.

Based on proven solutions

The Central Sterile Supply Department in Region Skåne is based on the same solutions that Gibotech has supplied or is currently supplying to other Central Sterile Supply Departments, including the New OUH in Odense.

These are automation solutions that have already been tested and proven in hospitals in countries such as Denmark and Germany. There, these automation solutions have helped optimize working conditions for staff by, for example, taking over heavy, repetitive tasks and eliminating non-ergonomic working postures.

One way to do this is by using warehouse cranes to place baskets or containers of surgical equipment on the shelves in the warehouse—and retrieve them again when they are needed for an operation. This relieves employees of having to raise their arms above shoulder height. A movement that is harmless in itself, but if performed multiple times a day over an entire working life, can lead to pain in the shoulders and back.

The Central Sterilization Department in Region Skåne is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.