What is the risk of transmitting infection to a patient whilst cleaning instruments in the surgery?
If instruments are cleaned in the surgery, there is a risk that dirty and clean instruments will be mixed up and that clean instruments may become contaminated via aerosols generated during the instrument cleaning process.
Both of these risks are reduced by removing the decontamination process to a separate room (though the risk of cross infection via aerosols generated during treatment remains).
Decontamination within a separate dedicated local decontamination unit enables the process to be better managed by following a dirty to clean workflow and preferably physical segregation of clean and dirty processes. This has the added benefit of removing the noise and heat associated with the process from the clinical area.