Record attendance level maintained in Harrogate

The conference, in which the keynote speeches were delivered to a sizeable audience in Harrogate’s magnificent Royal Hall, saw presentations by a regional director at new regulator the Care Quality Commission, and personal standpoints on some of the most pressing issues facing EFM personnel today from the heads of estates for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Other topics examined in depth, at a series of seminars (pictured), ranged from how copper and silver coating technologies are being used in the fight against hospital-acquired infection, and an update on the work of the Department of Health and NHS PASA’s HCAI Technology Innovation programme, to planning for the future of the NHS estate, “achieving sustainable buildings throughout the healthcare sector”, “providing assurance to Boards on estates and facilities”, and “the next steps for HTMs and HBNs”. The accompanying exhibition saw the highest number of exhibitors in the event’s history – at 192 – showcase their products and services to well over 800 visitors over the two-day show. Registration information provided by visitors indicated that among respondents’ strongest areas of interest and responsibility were “construction”; project management; PFI/ProCure21, heating and air conditioning; hospital furniture; offsite construction, and electric lighting and trunking. The organisers said the 2009 IHEEM Annual Conference was praised by many delegates for its range and depth of content, while many exhibitors apparently commented on the “quality of contacts” made during the two-day show, which gave them access to “key individuals responsible for the planning, design, construction, maintenance and management of major healthcare facilities and multiple sites”. Speaking at this year’s conference dinner, held in Hall D within the Harrogate International Centre itself, was Kate Bellingham (see pages 28-29), whose talent was originally spotted while she was working as a BBC radio engineer at London’s Broadcasting House in the late 1980s. She was subsequently recruited as one of the presenters of the popular BBC science programme, Tomorrow’s World. Now a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) careers champion for the Department for Children, Schools and Families, she is also president of Young Engineers, the national network of engineering clubs in schools and colleges, and a patron of WISE, a charitable organisation that encourages young women to pursue careers in science, engineering and construction. This issue of Health Estate Journal includes reports on the keynote speeches and a number of other presentations, while forthcoming issues will cover some of the other conference speeches felt to be of most interest to the magazine’s readership.