FEATURE ARTICLES

Energy and utilities management specialist, Dalkia, boasts over 75 years’ experience within the healthcare sector. It has helped more than 100 hospitals throughout the UK to meet carbon reduction strategies and reduce costs.

With the safety and security of all hospital users paramount, the need to safeguard valuable equipment against theft, and NHS security breaches on the rise, can estates and facilities managers afford to compromise when it comes to security in healthcare facilities?

Three articles that featured in HEJ’s April and November 2013, and April 2014 issues, focused, respectively, on the roles and responsibilities of those operating and managing medical gas pipeline systems, the MGPS Permit to Work System, and how to raise and complete the MGPS Permit to Work.

In an article which first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities, the monthly magazine of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES), Michelle O’Brodovich and Etienne deMuelenaere, of independent, ISO-certified, energy efficiency specialist, Ecosystem (which has offices across the US and Canada).

Dr Tom Makin, a highly experienced microbiologist and former Directorate manager at the Department of Medical Microbiology at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and Ken Tench, compliance manager, Estates and Facilities Directorate, at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

As reported in last month’s HEJ, the new Sustainable Development Strategy for the Health, Public Health and Social Care System for 2014-20 rightly emphasises the importance of the built environment to health and well-being.

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities unprepared for the power cuts predicted by energy observers in the light of what they say are insufficient UK power reserves, and particularly electrical energy capacity, could face ‘catastrophic’ consequences, warns Bill Wright, head of Energy Solutions at the Electrical Contractors’ Association (ECA).

Bathed in natural light from its prominent windows and central glass atrium, the new £430 million Brunel Building at Southmead Hospital Bristol features what main contractor, Carillion, describes as ‘a host of unconventional architectural and patient care features, as well as a progressive approach to community engagement’.

Last October’s Healthcare Estates 2013 conference saw one of the first day’s ‘Engineering’ sessions debate the topic, ‘Why do so many buildings disappoint their owners and occupants?’

In this article, supplied with the help of the International Federation of Hospital Engineering (IFHE), five co-authors* from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) – a German organisation that seeks to encourage and co-ordinate international cooperation in areas ranging from sustainable development to fund management.

The organisers of this month’s HefmA 2014 annual conference and exhibition promise delegates “the opportunity to hear international perspectives on the current issues facing the worldwide ‘family’ of health estates and facilities professionals”.

Early 2013 saw Brandon Medical, which designs and manufactures equipment ranging from operating theatre lighting to medical AV and control systems, celebrate ‘20 years of innovation and growth’, with a move to a new £2 million, 50,000 ft2 headquarters in Morley near Leeds, twice the size of its former premises.

Choosing flooring for healthcare takes careful consideration. New legislation in healthcare places greater responsibility on those throughout the supply chain to ensure the safety of staff, visitors, and patients – now, and in the future.

Two articles that featured in HEJ’s April and November 2013 issues focused, respectively, on the roles and responsibilities of those operating and managing medical gas pipeline systems, and on the MGPS Permit to Work System.

‘A vision showing how key organisations in the health and care system will join forces to address sustainability challenges, potentially saving millions of pounds’ is how NHS England and Public Health England describe the new Sustainability Strategy for the NHS, Public Health and Social Care System for 2014-2020.

Alongside key elements such as lighting, interior décor, artwork, and good air quality, the quality of furniture in a healthcare setting plays a key role in creating a comfortable, fit-for-purpose, and therapeutic environment for patients, and a good staff working environment.

Danish manufacturer, V Guldmann, says ceiling-mounted patient hoists can ‘improve working environments for nurses and care staff, and, if considered correctly, provide longterm cost savings and free up resources to provide such personnel with more time to care’.

Alan Daniels, technical director at specialist in self-test emergency lighting and exit signs, P4, describes the latest trends in, and requirements for, emergency lighting, ‘a vital part of the building services footprint in hospitals and healthcare premises’.

Speaking at a recent Water Management Society conference, Ginny Moore, of Public Health England (PHE), described how the latest thinking, and the results of recent research and experience on minimising the risk of growth and spread of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in healthcare plumbing systems.

Scott Buckler, of social enterprise, 4 All of Us, co-organisers, with London’s Barts Health NHS Trust, of NHS Sustainability Day 2014.