FEATURE ARTICLES

Nigel Thomas, National Specification and Projects Sales manager at ABB, discusses the importance of hospitals and other healthcare facilities having the most resilient possible power infrastructure.

In the healthcare sector, patients are more susceptible than most to the dangers posed by Legionella bacteria. The CEO at Legionella testing specialist, Hydrosense, explains how healthcare establishments can ‘go beyond compliance’ to better protect their patients, staff, and visitors, against this tenuous microorganism.

With improving the environmental conditions within healthcare estate buildings, while reducing operating costs and carbon emissions, an increasing focus for NHS healthcare engineers, 6RG’s Vincent McGonagle says the need for evidence-led interventions in building performance is ‘more important than ever’.

Dr Iyad Al-Attar, a mechanical engineer, air quality consultant, and a Visiting Academic Fellow in the School of Aerospace, Transport, and Manufacturing at Cranfield University, considers what he dubs the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) ‘gaps’ in healthcare facilities, and explores the potential for attaining and maintaining clean, fresh air for patients, staff, and visitors.

With the new financial year’s budgets now in full effect, healthcare estates teams have begun planning their refurbishment projects, with many considering how they might more efficiently, sustainably, and compliantly, manage their water systems. One technology rising to meet the challenge is remote digital water monitoring – a ‘smart, data-driven approach’ that automated water monitoring specialist, Angel Guard, says is ‘already reshaping’ how many buildings – including in healthcare, approach water system management. The company’s CEO, Jonathan Waggott, explains.

The UK Specification manager for the Care sector at warewashing system manufacturer, Meiko, considers some of the infection risks when clinical and nursing staff are handling bedpans, and focuses on the advantages of using advanced washer-disinfectors in hospitals and other healthcare settings.

Speaking at July’s 2025 IHEEM Authorising Engineers conference, Harry Evans, an IHEEM-Registered AE (Water), discussed a past experience advising a school on addressing a challenging Legionella issue – with some notable lessons for the healthcare estates sector.

Estate management is an increasingly urgent issue for the UK government, which is facing a £49 bn public estate maintenance backlog, of which £13.8 bn is accounted for by healthcare. Pagabo’s Jonathan Oram highlights how procurement solutions are key in effectively tackling the healthcare backlog crisis.

Laura Carrara-Cagni RIBA, director and co-founder of Cagni Williams Associates and Cagni Williams Energy, explores how architects can assist NHS Trusts and other healthcare providers in developing and implementing Net Zero Carbon strategies, how their expertise can drive cost reductions, and the role of external partnerships.

Dr Scott Brown, managing director and lead consultant for Health Tech Solutions, and Simon Everett, Senior Lecturer in the Built Environment and Programme leader at Wrexham University, discuss the importance of senior healthcare estate management and capital finance managers having in place a risk-based strategic replacement plan for the HVAC systems within their hospitals. They highlight the risk factors which influence the decision-making process.

A look at the ‘advantages and challenges’ of central dosing systems, and some of the innovations and emerging technologies shaping the future of dosing in medical decontamination facilities – with a view to reducing waste and energy consumption, and safeguarding the health and wellbeing of employees within such units – by Alan Abbatt, a director at Dr Weigert UK.

Now approaching 200 days since the post- ‘go-live’ marker of the Procurement Act 2023 (the ‘Act’), Chris Robinson, associate director, and Fleur Summers, senior consultant at Turner and Townsend, provide their insights into some of the major developments and key ‘takeaways’ since its launch, particularly when it comes to healthcare estate provisions.

David Navarrete, director of Research Initiatives and Professional Education at Sky Factory – a fine arts and digital technology studio that leverages Neuroaesthetics in its design framework, discusses some of the interesting research on the positive impact of dynamic lighting systems in reducing stress and burnout among healthcare staff and improving patient outcomes. Among the areas studied have been ‘the unique patterns of brain activation’ associated with exposure to photographic sky compositions (representing nature stimuli) compared with other positive, negative, and neutral images.

At the Institute of Decontamination Sciences’ annual scientific conference at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel, decontamination scientists from across the UK discussed issues including common reprocessing challenges experienced by decontamination staff, the need for clear IFUs for medical devices, whether the time is right to review the Spaulding Classification, and some of the risks posed by biofilms in flexible endoscopes. Louise Frampton, the editor of HEJ’s sister publication, The Clinical Services Journal, reports.

Giving the opening keynote speech remotely at the 2025 IHEEM Wales Regional Conference at the ICC Wales in May, Judith Paget CBE, Director General for Health and Social Services and NHS Wales Chief Executive, reflected on some of the key challenges for the NHS estate in Wales – including an ageing estate, a significant maintenance backlog, and the need to prioritise where limited capital funding is invested. With avoidable safety incidents still occurring across the NHS, it was also vital – she said – that compliance risks were managed and mitigated against.

IHEEM-registered Authorising Engineer (Water), Karina Jones, of Eta Projects, discusses some of the risks to patients in hospitals and other healthcare facilities from contaminated wastewater, and suggests a number of often simple-to-implement measures that can be taken to mitigate these risks.

A new £110 m health and care complex at Catterick Garrison (HEJ – April 2023) – a joint project between the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the NHS – is under construction and due to open next year, and will provide a range of health services for military personnel and the local community, including general practice, physiotherapy, rehabilitation, mental health services, X-rays, and ultrasound. As Karina Dare, Primary Care Estates Strategy lead at NHS Property Services (NHSPS) reports, supporting Humber and North Yorkshire ICB and working with DIO (Defence Infrastructure Organisation) and the Defence Medical Services on this joint project was a first for NHSPS.

Dr James Soothill MBBS, MD, FRCPath, a Consultant Microbiologist at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, discusses his invention and development of what he dubs ‘a cost-effective, robust, low-maintenance approach to prevent the ascent of antibiotic-resistant bacteria from drains into hospital sinks’ – the ‘so-called’ Tuba Drain.

Professor John Sandham CEng, FIHEEM, discusses the potential positive impact of the new role of IHEEM Authorising Engineer (Medical Devices) – which ‘became official’ on 2 June – drawing on the insights gained from a case study conducted within an NHS Trust, which explored what he dubs ‘the transformative potential of a collaborative, expert-led, intervention in medical device management policy’.

Sarah Walter, managing director of Charleston, South Carolina-based architecture and engineering firm, Page Southerland Page, and Nora Colman, an Assistant Professor in Paediatrics in the division of Paediatric Critical Care Medicine at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, discuss some of the most important elements in the quest to balance an open and welcoming space with sufficient security when designing children’s healthcare facilities.