FEATURE ARTICLES

Manufacturer and supplier of LED theatre lights, HD camera systems, video integration technologies, and ceiling support units, Trumpf Medical Systems UK, and “logistical services” company Canute International Medical Services (CIMS), one of whose specialities is providing mobile medical units for diagnostic imaging, have entered into a partnership that will see the two companies offer fully fitted out modular operating theatres and other medical/clinical buildings incorporating the latest technology and equipment, on a fully project-managed, “turnkey” basis.

Damon High, a consultant at international testing, certification, qualification, training, and consultancy services provider TÜV Product Service, examines the issue of electromagnetic interference in hospitals, highlighting the areas that equipment suppliers and estates and facilities managers/healthcare engineers need to consider to ensure both the continuing safe, reliable operation of equipment, and compliance with the latest legislation.

Examining the effectiveness of various wet surface cleaning methods in combating harmful microorganisms in a hospital ward, understanding different healthcare cleaning regimes’ impact on reducing slips and trips, evaluating the protection offered by surgical masks against influenza bioaerosols, and independently testing tower crane safety following a number of fatal incidents, are among the broad spectrum of recent projects undertaken by the Buxton-headquartered Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL).

What are the best methods for monitoring hospital water systems to prevent contamination by waterborne pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Legionella?

Amanda Parkin, marketing manager at approved design and build consultant to the NHS for integrated theatres and digital video communications, OR Networks, explains how, with the help of the company and its specialist equipment, Northumbrian surgeons successfully established a two-way audio/video link to their counterparts at a hospital in the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro to enable them to train the Tanzanian surgeons in laparoscopic surgery.

A comprehensive introduction to water risk and legislation, with a particular focus on the challenges in healthcare, was provided by Blane Judd, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE), at a recent IHEEM seminar in London.

Speaking at last October’s Healthcare Estates 2010 conference in Manchester, Peter Haggarty, assistant director, Health Facilities Scotland, outlined some of the key steps and priorities for large healthcare providers seeking to establish and implement an effective asset management strategy, focusing particularly on work ongoing in this area in the Scottish public health service.

This October saw the launch of the new ProCure21+ National Framework under which, the Department of Health (DH) team behind the new scheme claims, the NHS can potentially save a further £200 million of public money on top of the substantial sums saved under predecessor, ProCure21, via faster, more streamlined procurement, design, planning, and construction, of publicly-funded healthcare schemes.

Conor Ellis, head of health, Ed Baldwin, partner, and Rachel Dick, consultant, at international built asset consultancy EC Harris, present a “10-step guide” to help the NHS achieve radical efficiency savings, optimise the use of its estate, maximise the value of under-utilised land, buildings, and other assets, and harness better value from its existing FM operations.

Infection control is a paramount concern for hospitals worldwide. AECOM engineers in Australia designed the first ever displacement ventilation solution for a Melbourne hospital, researching how materials and systems can assist management of, and reduce, infection transmission within healthcare environments. HEJ reports.

Alan Bavis, facilities and engineering manager at New Zealand’s Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB), based in Christchurch, explains how well-rehearsed contingency planning procedures, reliable, well-maintained plant, and an “excellent team spirit”, combined with “sheer adrenaline”, helped he and his estates team keep vital hospital services running in the aftermath of the major earthquake which hit the country’s South Island in September this year.

Pioneering “state-of-the-art mobile” diagnostic technology, Cobalt claims its mobile MRI service is among the world’s most sophisticated charity-run operations of its kind. However, with its fleet of units constantly deployed at, or moving between, hospitals across the South West of England and Wales, the charity faces a potential logistical nightmare.

The PFI model has undoubtedly had its critics since the first PFI-funded healthcare facilities began appearing in the UK in the early 1990s, but, supporters emphasise, without PFI funding many much-needed hospitals would never have been built, and they point to numerous examples today of good PFI hospitals delivering an excellent service to their local community.

Aiming to provide a safe, secure, and therapeutic 21st Century care environment that will enable many patients to recover from serious mental illness and eventually return to the community, but in significantly less institutional and cramped surroundings, is the goal of a major £67 million rebuild project currently ongoing at the State Hospital in Lanarkshire.

How healthcare estates and facilities teams can best respond to the challenge of maintaining a safe, clean, and secure patient and staff environment at a time when not only are capital budgets being severely squeezed, but, in one headline speaker’s words, “the NHS is facing some of the most farreaching changes in its history”, was the major focus of both the presidential address, and the two keynote speeches – one of which also considered the case for “evidence-based” design – at this year’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition in Manchester. HEJ editor Jonathan Baillie reports.

As the UK’s largest organisation, with an annual purchasing budget of around £17 billion, the NHS has an enormous part to play in reducing the country’s energy consumption and emissions.

Steve Ruddell, division manager, Discrete Automation and Motion, at ABB, outlines the advantages of fitting variable speed drives and high efficiency motors into HVAC systems at a time when, faced with the need to cut costs, estates and facilities teams are having to look more closely than ever at reducing their buildings’ energy consumption.

Ronan Quinn, managing director of interior construction specialist Ardmac, describes the challenges of building and fitting out a new cleanroom laboratory for blood and bone marrow therapeutic treatment at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital Crumlin in Dublin.

Adrian Popplewell, an associate at a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy Ramboll Acoustics, discusses the importance of good acoustics in the design of truly fit-for-purpose 21st Century healthcare buildings, agreeing that, as Florence Nightingale wrote in 1859: “Unnecessary noise is the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted on the sick or well”.

With September having seen the end of the registration period for the introductory phase of the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, healthcare sector participants should already be monitoring their energy usage, and preparing their carbon reduction strategies.