Trump’s tariffs lead to new partnership to improve standards of decontamination in UK
Following the announcement of tariffs being imposed by President Trump on steel imports, BES Healthcare has formed a new distribution partnership with German-based decontamination specialists RehaWash.
The distribution agreement was reached by BES Healthcare’s international supply chain manager Dirk ter Haar and RehaWash System’s managing director Ronald van den Grift at this year’s Rehacare in Düsseldorf.
Based in Weißwasser, RehaWash Systems manufacture cleaning and disinfecting systems designed for use in the healthcare industry, with a particular focus on community equipment, distributing the range across multiple countries.
Discussing what attracted the RehaWash Systems range to BES, Dirk ter Haar told THIIS: “There were two factors, first President Trump’s steel tariffs immediately impacted the cost of the machines we normally import from the US – increasing their cost by 25 percent pretty much overnight. So, to try and retain a good value offering for our customers, we needed to look at alternatives.
“The second factor was that RehaWash are much more closely in tune with the international washer disinfector standards (ISO 15883) than our American counterparts were. This higher level of compliance helps deliver better peace-of-mind to our customers, especially at a time when auditing of healthcare facilities is getting ever more stringent.”
BES Healthcare says it has done a lot to bring better decontamination practices to loan stores around the UK and the new partnership will see the company up its game even further to set new standards for the decontamination of medical durables such as beds and wheelchairs.
Highlighting the advantages the RehaWash range will bring to decontamination in the community loan store sector, Dirk explained: “In this part of the industry, the majority of the other offerings on the market are machines that have been lifted from other industrial sectors and dropped into healthcare settings without much regard for the particular needs of healthcare settings.
“RehaWash’s machines have been designed from the ground up solely for the purpose of washing and disinfecting community equipment, such as wheelchairs, bed, and commodes.”
In addition, the RehaWash machines comply with the appropriate international standards, certified by an independent body.
“As far as we are aware, RehaWash are the only manufacturer in the world of a chemical washer disinfector with certified compliance to ISO 15883 – that is a pretty substantial claim to be able to make,” added Dirk.
Initially, BES Healthcare says it will be offering the range to its core loan store market place, whilst developing a new product with RehaWash with higher compliance for hospitals.
“We are also very keen to find a way to better serve the care home market who traditionally haven’t been able to afford this kind of equipment, but who would be able to afford the use of a mobile decontamination service,” finished Dirk.
