FEATURE ARTICLES

While Engineering Technicians play a key role in the development and implementation of new engineering technologies, and in the design and construction of high quality, safe, and environmentally compliant buildings, the Engineering Council says under one per cent of all such UK professional personnel are currently registered at EngTech level.

A quartet of speakers at a London seminar that looked ahead to the challenges facing the sector to 2020 and beyond, held in early November to mark IHEEM’s 70th Anniversary, addressed subjects including how the global healthcare community will tackle a significant future increase in demand for care, the growing pressure to reduce energy consumption, and the predicted migration of much of the care currently provided in large acute hospitals to community healthcare settings and patients’ homes.

In an article that first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities magazine, Kent Waddington, communications director, and Linda Varangu, Executive Director, at the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, and Peter Berry, senior policy analyst, and Jaclyn Paterson, environmental health specialist, at Health Canada.

In an article first published in The Australian Hospital Engineer, Craig Walter, manager – Emerging Markets, A.G. Coombs Pty, examines some of the key considerations for healthcare estates teams looking at installing cogeneration or trigeneration systems and technology.

The global HIV and tuberculosis (TB) epidemics have placed enormous burdens upon already overstretched healthcare workers and poorly resourced healthcare facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

In our other article based around operating theatres in this issue of HEJ (see pages 64-72), we examine how some of the latest technology is benefiting users, but in this article – with all areas of the NHS charged with reducing energy consumption and cutting carbon emissions.

A hospital car park needs to balance the demands of patients, visitors, and staff, without, for example, compromising emergency vehicles’ access to the Accident & Emergency Department.

The keynote speeches at this year’s Healthcare Estates conference, which was themed ‘Putting positive energy into healthcare’.

Operating theatre technology has developed significantly in recent years, with increasing automation and control of functions like lighting, pendants, cameras, and viewing screens.

In an article in the April 2013 issue of Health Estate Journal, Geoff Dillow, a former head of training at the forerunner to Eastwood Park, the Hospital Engineering Centre, addressed the roles and responsibilities of personnel involved in the operation and management of medical gas pipeline systems (MGPS).

With IHEEM celebrating its 70th Anniversary this month, HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, recently met the Institute’s oldest surviving Past-President, Lawrence Turner OBE.

Flooring is a crucial element in healthcare settings, so choosing the most appropriate materials, and employing the correct cleaning methods, should be high on the list of priorities for all healthcare estate managers, as Lesley Davis, a regional area manager at supplier of industrial and commercial floor cleaning machines, Truvox International, explains.

James McGowan, R&D product designer for Monodraught, a specialist in ‘natural ventilation, natural daylight, and natural cooling systems’, discusses the development of Cool-phase, the company’s latest innovative application of phase change material (PCM) as a thermal energy store used to actively ventilate and cool buildings.

Colin Lawson, head of sales and marketing at Tamlite Lighting, argues that when selecting new lighting for healthcare facilities, estates and facilities managers need to make ‘smart, well-informed decisions’ in order to balance energy saving with patient comfort.

How can estates managers guarantee uninterrupted surgical provision during refurbishment projects, or boost capacity when waiting lists look dangerously at risk?

Keeping track of thousands of pieces of equipment in a busy hospital environment is a considerable challenge, but, according to RFID tagging and asset tracking specialist, Harland Simon, RFID technology can make the task considerably simpler.

A looming energy crisis will hit the UK within the next five years, energy regulator Ofgem has warned on a number of occasions already this year, and public sector organisations, commercial businesses, and households, can all expect a series of price hikes as demand outstrips local resources.

Are electronic engineering maintenance records relating to the hospital estate or a medical device as important as electronic patient records? Computer maintenance management systems (CMMS) are increasingly being used to manage all-round maintenance activities.

A new mortuary and bereavement facility at one of North Wales’s largest acute hospitals, the Ysbyty Glan Clwyd near Rhyl, formed from 16 steel-framed modules that were manufactured off site, and subsequently craned into position to greatly speed project completion, was delivered ‘well below original cost budget, four weeks ahead of schedule’, by turnkey construction specialist, MTX Contracts.

In an article that first appeared in the August 2013 issue of HEJ’s sister magazine, The Clinical Services Journal, John Sandham IEng MIET MIHEEM, discusses the need to put in place effective healthcare technology management policies, and highlights some of the barriers.