CFER — Certified Flexible Endoscope Reprocessor

The CFER programme is the advanced reprocessing course: everything that happens to a flexible endoscope between one patient and the next, taught on a real reprocessing bench.

What the programme covers

Transport and handling, the leak test, manual cleaning of every channel, rinsing, high-level disinfection and the cycle that has to run to the end, drying, storage and the traceability record. The programme spends its time on the parts that fail an audit: a channel that was brushed but not flushed, a cycle cut short, a scope stored wet.

How it is taught

Eight two-hour sessions in the skills lab, with the endoscopes, the brushes, the pumps and the disinfection equipment in front of the student. Each step is demonstrated, then performed, then explained back — the standard an endoscopy unit will hold them to.

Where it leads

Endoscopy reprocessing rooms in hospitals and day-surgery centres, and the senior reprocessing role that a CSSD department builds around one accountable person.