3 Ways Investing in a New Medical Fridge Will Save Your Healthcare Organisation Money

Medical fridges are an essential piece of equipment in most healthcare settings. They ensure vaccines, medicines and other healthcare products are kept at the correct temperature so they can be safely administered to patients.

Without medical fridges, vaccines and other temperature-sensitive medications would become too warm, leaving them unusable.

What is the lifespan of a medical fridge?

Typically, medical fridges have a lifespan of around 8-10 years.

As a healthcare practitioner, you may be tempted to keep your medical fridge longer, or sink money into repairing your current fridge, however investing in a new medical fridge will often save you money in the long run.

As with most white goods, medical fridges become outdated over time and new technology advances mean newer models are more energy efficient and cost-effective.

The risks of running an outdated medical fridge

By continuing to operate with an old, outdated medical fridge, not only do you run the risk of a fridge malfunction, you also risk losing your refrigerated stock.

Vaccines, for example, should not be kept outside the cold chain (+2^oC and +8^oC) for more than 20 minutes – as set out by NHS England. After 20 minutes, their potency cannot be guaranteed and they cannot be administered, which puts public health at risk.

To ensure your vital medical supplies are kept safe, it’s best to have your fridge serviced and calibrated annually, and to invest in a new model every 8-10 years.

Here are 3 ways investing in a new medical fridge could save your healthcare organisation money and improve business efficiency:

1. More Accurate Temperature Control

Medical fridges are fitted with highly accurate temperature sensors that ensure the internal fridge temperature remains within the cold chain (+2^oC and +8^oC). Over time, as with most electronics, these sensors can degenerate and become less effective, which can lead to vaccines etc becoming spoiled.

At CoolMed, our current range of medical fridges are fitted with the highest quality iCool temperature probes available, which actively and accurately monitor and stabilise drug temperatures.

Our fridges also come with an external temperature display with battery backup, which some older medical fridge models do not have. This ensures fridge temperatures can still be monitored even in the event of a power cut, which is important to prevent unnecessary waste – if vaccine/medicine temperatures don’t actually fall outside the cold chain limits, they can still be administered. 

2. Increased Energy Efficiency

In general, new medical fridges are much more energy efficient than older models, which helps to keep monthly electricity bills as low as possible.

Unlike domestic fridges, medical fridges are not given energy ratings. Instead, manufacturers specify the energy consumption of their medical fridges in kW used per 24-hours.

Generally medical fridges tend to be much more energy efficient than standard domestic fridges. For example, our medium glass door medical fridge uses 328.5 kW of electricity per year, whereas a typical domestic fridge uses 408 kW per year.

Faulty refrigerator door seals can also alter how much energy medical fridges consume.

Broken or worn-out door seals have a significant impact on the cooling capacity and energy consumption of medical fridges. With faulty door seals, medical fridges leak cold air, which they overcome by using more electricity to keep their internal temperature even and stable.

By investing in a new fridge you’ll bypass this problem and ensure your electricity bills remain as low as possible.

3. Improved Security

Investing in a new medical fridge will also provide your medical stock with improved security, and again, could save you substantial costs in the future.

If your healthcare practice is storing medication of high monetary value within your medical fridge, there is an increased risk of break in and theft.

With new medical fridges, locks will be extra robust and more secure than they once were. If there does come a point where you experience unwanted intruders, new locks will withstand their force, and act as a second line of defence.

Contact Us

If you’d like to speak to us about our medical fridges, or would like more information on the energy efficiency of our fridges, please call us on 0161 772 5666, or email us at info@coolmed.co.uk.