FEATURE ARTICLES

The advantages of Energy Performance Contracts, and some of the options available for NHS Trusts keen to embrace them to cut their energy bills and carbon emissions.

RFID tracking of some 2,500 high value medical devices used at Scotland’s Forth Valley Royal Hospital is helping to minimise the time that technicians spend looking for equipment.

The executive director and strategic planning lead at Community Health Partnerships shares his thoughts on the healthcare estate’s role ‘as a facilitator for much-needed change’.

How to establish an effective Water Safety Group and associated Water Safety Plan as part of a determined strategy to keep a healthcare facility’s water system safe.

Proposed ‘point-value metrics’ for assessing the ‘efficiency’ of NHS Trusts relative to their peers could be inherently flawed, a former NHS estates and facilities manager warns.

The variable quality of new surgical instruments arriving at a leading London hospital, and an auditing process to ensure defective such devices never reach the operating theatre, were discussed at a recent IHEEM seminar.

An independent water hygiene consultant and Authorising Engineer (Water) reports on the potential lessons from his recent work collecting Pseudomonas aeuruginosa samples from 14 UK Trusts.

The complexities and challenges, including decanting patients and staff into eight temporary ‘cabins’, of a £3m refurbishment and asbestos ‘strip-out’ at a north Kent private hospital.

A new Design and Innovation Centre at Static Systems’ Staffordshire headquarters incorporates a multi-bed bay – a ‘live example’ of the ProCure21+ repeatable room design.

Some of the very varied and often daunting challenges faced by healthcare security personnel in what can be a volatile and stressful environment, where normal inhibitions may not apply.

Some of the priorities to ensure a good choice of fire alarm and detection system for hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

The considerations that design engineers need to be aware of when providing ventilation in healthcare buildings, with a particular focus on indoor air quality.

A Central Sterilising Club working group has recently got together to produce some valuable guidance on air quality in the ‘clean’ side of endoscopy decontamination suites.

One of the leading IP-based nurse call specialists considers how increasing connectivity with other devices is enhancing the capabilities and ‘reach’ of nurse call equipment.

In his second article for HEJ, Professor Matthew Bacon, MD of The Conclude Consultancy, discusses the challenges of space management for NHS Trusts, and how such space might be better utilised.

A look at a programmatic approach ‘proven to improve cleanliness and reduce infection transmission risk’ in healthcare environments which harnesses a combination of a patented gel, education, training, and individual performance feedback.

A look, by a lawyer, at the implications of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 for those procuring goods and services within the NHS.

HEJ reports on three different, but equally successful, approaches to engineering apprenticeships, as the importance of passing on skills and expertise to a new generation assumes increasing significance.

With IHEEM’s flagship Healthcare Estates 2015 show due to open its doors on 20 October, HEJ focuses on some of the key themes of this year’s event, and highlights a number of new features.

This autumn will see the opening of the new Alder Hey in the Park hospital in Liverpool – believed to be Europe’s first children’s hospital to be constructed within a parkland setting.