The scope is washed after the colonoscopy. Most centres use what we call an automated scope washing apparatus. The scope is washed thoroughly, there’s an established regime with a particular cleaning solution recommended by the manufacturer. In addition to that, because the scope actually contains channels inside which allows us to put instruments in to do a biopsy. The channels themselves are also washed through the same machine, through a special regime where they put in a probe and wash the channel.
On top of that, all accredited scope centres need to perform regular cultures which means they need to take swabs from the surface, from the end of the scope, and from within the channel. And they need to send it to see whether any bacteria is cultivated because we acknowledge that no matter how well you clean, there’s always a small possibility that you might have bacteria that colonised the area. So, therefore, we do regular swab tests for that.
