FEATURE ARTICLES

As architects, specifiers, and Estates and Facilities managers work to ensure the safety of hospital staff, patients, and visitors, passive fire protection measures (such as fire-resistant glass) can play a vital role. Faced with balancing functionality, wellbeing, design, and safety, demanding more from your fire safety glass specifications is essential, says Andy Lake, Sales director, UK & Ireland, at Pyroguard – a specialist in the manufacture of such glass.

In this ‘Q&A’-style article, James Weber, Marketing manager at SFG20, the UK industry standard for building maintenance, talks to Mathew Houghton, IT lead for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, to understand how – as the latter puts it – he got back an entire working day per week of time savings using SFG20 content and software.

Harm Hollander, a practising Australian architect who has driven the design and procurement teams of major hospital projects around Australia and internationally, Oystein Tronstad, Physiotherapy clinical lead at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, and an experienced ICU clinician and researcher, and architect and clinical planner, Angelo Pagano, describe a research project undertaken at the Brisbane hospital which has looked to improve ICU bed bay environments through a variety of measures – from mitigating unwanted noise and incorporating distractive ceiling panels, to enhancing indoor air quality. The scheme was the subject of a post-occupancy evaluation.

Given the ongoing need for healthcare providers to balance form with function when it comes to interior furnishings, surfaces are one such area where estate stakeholders can make efficiency gains, while also ensuring cleanability, antimicrobial protection, and durability, in line with rigorous standards. George Emms, Specification leader, UK & Ireland, at Wilsonart, sets out some of key considerations when specifying surfaces for the modern healthcare estate.

Con McGarry, Senior consultant and Solution lead for Digital x Healthcare* at Arcadis, discusses how – against a backdrop where many healthcare organisations worldwide are determining how they move closer to a digital technology-enabled future – the journey from concept to actual implementation remains challenging. He advocates ‘an approach that goes beyond technology acquisition’, using a Strategic Technology Roadmap ‘rooted in understanding the distinct challenges that an organisation faces and quantifying them’.

David George, an Authorising Engineer (AE), Mechanical, at Eta Projects with over 30 years’ experience of high-risk Safe Systems of Work (electrical, mechanical, petroleum, confined spaces), and 19 years’ experience as an AE, and a Co-ordinating Authorising Engineer and trainer in the development of Safe Systems of Work, debates some of the issues around the requirement for a formal mechanical SSoW for the healthcare estate.

Peter Gunn, a Senior consultant at the Water Hygiene Centre, discuses the priorities for those working in engineering and estate management and clinical roles in private sector healthcare settings whose role includes responsibility for keeping their facility’s water system in a safe and compliant condition. He focuses particularly on the key steps to minimise the chances of Legionella growth and proliferation – as set out in HSE and Department of Health and Social Care guidance.

Mott MacDonald’s Modern Methods of Construction and healthcare specialists, Ben Carlisle and Andrew Parks, and the business’s Industrialised Design and Construction director, Trudi Sully, believe that industrialisation of design and construction methods could reduce costs at every lifecycle stage of healthcare facilities, as well as improve the quality of patient care. The firm’s managing editor, Claire Smith, spoke to them to find out more.

Architect, Martín Bentolila, of a|sh Sander Hofrichter Architekten in Hannover, argues that while technology has enabled the development of new treatments, and can significantly improve patient care and optimise time management in hospital settings, it is crucial that its adoption is not purely driven by commercial benefits, but rather responds to real need and enhances the quality of care.

Hiroshi Yasuhara, President of the Healthcare Engineering Association of Japan (HEAJ), discusses a study undertaken with the participation of 257 of the country’s hospitals into some of the key infrastructural and other adaptations they made to address a surge in patient numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2024 Smriti Singh – who has over 20 years’ experience providing strategic advice and delivering change and transformation programmes in the health and care sector, founded a strategic healthcare consultancy, Symbi Consulting – of which she is managing director. Here she, James Philipps, experienced architect and founder of architectural practice, Philipps & Co, and Neil Kukreja, a Medical Director and consultant surgeon, explore the key part clinical engagement can play in making new healthcare developments ‘more effective and more efficient’.

Jessica Whincop, an Architectural designer at Arcadis’ Architecture and Urbanism division, explains how a variety of sensory ‘tools’ – such as 3D printed models, and textured floorplans printed on large format paper using specialised raised, touch-sensitive ink, were developed to bring plans for the new Oriel facility being built for London’s Moorfields Eye Hospital to life for prospective users – including visually impaired people, during a series of patient engagement sessions.

WB Power Services Business consultant, Geoff Halliday, considers the issue of transferring complex loads onto a standby diesel generator. Today, standby generating sets are seeing an increase in the scope and variation of loads being connected to such plant.

Starkstrom, the specialist in clinical infrastructure for hospitals and other healthcare facilities, has recently opened a new demonstration and training facility at its Syston headquarters in Leicestershire. Here clinicians can interact with the latest advanced infrastructure and operating theatre technologies within a dedicated environment that showcases how these solutions can be integrated into the healthcare space. Louise Frampton, the editor of HEJ’s sister publication, The Clinical Services Journal, reports.

Following the Grenfell Tower fire, and Dame Judith Hackitt’s subsequent independent review of building regulations and fire safety, HTM 05-03: Part K: Guidance on fire risk assessments in complex healthcare premises,¹ has been revised, with some extensive changes. Maz Daoud, the head of Fire Safety, NHS Estates, NHS England – Commercial Directorate, here assesses the role of an HTM, the risks specific to complex healthcare premises, what’s new in the revised HTM 05-03 Part K, and how this applies in practice.

Some of the key infection risks posed by water systems in hospitals and other healthcare facilities were discussed at the Infection Prevention Society’s Infection Prevention 2024 annual conference at the ICC, Birmingham. One of the topics to generate considerable debate was the ‘pros and cons’ of removing washbasins from rooms housing ‘high-risk’ patients where risk assessment indicates too high an infection risk from outlets and associated drainage. Louise Frampton, the editor of HEJ’s sister magazine, The Clinical Services Journal, reports.

Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is embarking on a series of ‘transformative projects’ designed to improve patient care, enhance facilities, and ensure that families receive the best possible support during their healthcare journeys. As Mica Moore, a Business Support manager at the Trust explains, these ‘innovative schemes’ aim to reflect the world-class treatments provided inside the hospitals, while creating welcoming, safe, and sustainable environments for all who visit.

Jeenash Mistry, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s head of Operational Estates & Facilities, and Chris Yeo, director of Low Carbon Solutions at Vital Energi, describe a well-executed major decarbonisation project, undertaken against tight timescales, at two of the Trust’s hospitals.

Michèle Wheeler, International Health and Life Sciences director, and Karen Bryson, Transformation Expert adviser, at healthcare and life sciences consultancy, Lexica, delve into ‘the evolving landscape’ of the global health and care sector, with a look at ‘the pivotal part’ they believe technology and AI will play in future healthcare transformation.

With the increase in ‘social prescribing’ aimed at easing the burden on the NHS, there is renewed focus on the health benefits of gardens, and particularly on the physical act of gardening, among healthcare professionals and those within the care sector.