FEATURE ARTICLES

This year’s Healthcare Estates Conference and Exhibition, building on the strengths of previous events in the series, is being billed as outstanding.

For all those involved in construction, development, refurbishment or the day-to-day running of healthcare facilities, Healthcare Estates 2006 will provide thought-provoking fresh ideas, educational updates, solutions to problems and a vast display of specialised products and services.

New and innovative secure storage technology offers greater convenience and flexibility than traditional systems, particularly for the storage of valuable instruments and controlled drugs, as David Price of System Store Solutions explains.

For decades, solutions based on the use of ordinary keys have been the mainstay of secure storage in healthcare applications, but these solutions have severe limitations. Keys can be mislaid, depriving authorised users of access to equipment and drugs which may be urgently needed.

At a time when there is new emphasis on diagnosis and treatment in the community, Barry Panton, chairman of Prime plc, a specialist investor in health and social care, and the UK’s leading private partner in LIFT, takes a look at the latest Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) report Designed with Care.

When was the last time you felt disheartened by your surroundings? We all encounter unpleasant environments – such as the poorly lit and poorly ventilated office to the crowded, stuffy shopping centre on a Saturday afternoon. Environments in which we exist on a day-to-day basis have a huge and undeniable bearing on our health. If we already feel under the weather we do not need to endure this experience when we visit the doctor.

Toks Adeniji, chief executive of lighting manufacturer Ardent Products, explains how to use the latest mood lighting to create an optimum healing and working environment.

Improving the environment in a hospital ward can cut the recovery time for non-operative patients by 14-21%.

Bill Moffitt, UK operations manager for TBS G.B. Telematic & Biomedical Services, provides an insight into how vital biomedical engineering and telemedicine services are moving forward.

Preventative maintenance of biomedical equipment is increasing in importance.

To significantly reduce healthcare-acquired infections in the NHS, more collaborative working is needed, and greater attention given to basic procedures. This became clear at the Hospital Hygiene conference held recently at ExCeL, London, as Nicholas Marshall and Jason Rayfield report.

Driving forward major reductions in healthcare-acquired infections in the NHS is a task needing scrupulous attention given to key factors such as hand hygiene and the cleaning of surfaces likely to be contaminated, the Hospital Hygiene conference heard.

For this article, Paul Robbins IEng MIHEEM IIPEM MCMI, electro-medical services manager, technical support services, Papworth Hospital NHS Trust, has been awarded IHEEM’s Northcroft Silver Medal. The article, previously published in the June 2005 edition of Health Estate Journal, outlines the rationale for using a risk management based medical device support program that incorporates the best elements of industrial practice.

The NHS is moving to a climate of payment by results, and this requires resources to be targeted where they are most effective. To the private engineering sector this is nothing new, as modern production lines can be halted quickly when plant fails, therefore our industrial colleagues have to ensure that their maintenance regimes are targeted to support mission critical elements of the business. To this end industry has developed many systems such as Reliability Engineering (RA) or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), all of which have as their basis the application of Risk Management (RM) to support this aim (Fig. 1).

Marion Warburton reviews the infrastructure requirements of hospital security technology integration. This article originally appeared in the Quarterly Journal of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society and is published in HEJ through IHEEM’s links with the International Federation of Hospital Engineering.

Less than ten years ago, a baby could be abducted from the average hospital in Canada without a single alarm going off.

Bill Geerlings C.Eng FIHEEM FIHEA BHA (NSW), director, Capworks Management (Victoria) Pty, discusses the role of end users in health facility developments. This article originally appeared in The Australian Hospital Engineer, the magazine of the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia and is published in HEJ through IHEEM’s links with the International Federation of Hospital Engineering.

Drawing on my experience as a project director and facilities director of teaching hospitals in Victoria and Queensland, Australia, I will examine the need for end user involvement in health facility redevelopments if these are to be really successful. I will also examine the strategies and structures for optimising their contribution during the planning, design, commissioning and handover phases of major projects.

The move to a modern protective security culture is outlined by Nick van der Bijl, Trust security manager, North Bristol NHS Trust. The International Federation of Hospital Engineering (IFHE) assisted with the commissioning of this article.

Since 1948 the National Health Service subscribed to the Home Office assessment that: “For some strange reason, people, staff and visitors seem to think that because hospitals are caring places, they are somehow immune from the effects of local crime and the ills of society”.

The management of ventilation and water hygiene in healthcare buildings is explored by Tim Wafer MIHEEM, chlorine dioxide product group manager, Clearwater Technology.

Jan Strybol, regulatory affairs manager for Air Products Medical, explains the new CEN & ISO standard on Medical Gas Pipeline Systems (MGPS).

A path to the satisfactory validation of new sterile service department (SSD) cleanrooms is set out by project manager and cleanroom consultant Andrew Tweedie.

Health Estate Journal outlines highlights from the forthcoming Health Facilities Management Association (HEFMA) conference, and previews a selection of products and services from the accompanying exhibition.

Health Estate Journal reviews IDEAs – a new web-based tool for Trusts working with architects and design consultants to develop their briefs and design ideas for healthcare environments.

An evaluation of the antimicrobial properties of sanitising product TECare by Dr A Taylor MB CHB, et al. – Leesbrook Surgery, Lees, Oldham.

Issues relating to the security of hospital premises are examined by Henrik Kiertzner MBCS CITP MIEE FRSA, associate director, Arup Security and Risk Consulting.

The recent Futurebuild event provided insights into how modern construction methods can improve the delivery of healthcare facilities. Jason Rayfield reports.

This Health Estate Journal ‘Then and now’ feature focuses on the importance of earth loop testing in ensuring electrical safety. The first part of the feature is by John Stephens, principal partner of Walnut Lodge Services, and the second section consists of a slightly edited version of an article by J.V. Gomersall (DFH, Graduate IEE) that was published in the August 1960 issue of The Hospital Engineer, the journal of The Institution of Hospital Engineers (now IHEEM).

Jason Rayfield reports on the recently completed Pharmaceuticals Production Suite within the new Pharmacy and Pathology Building at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel.