FACILITIES MANAGEMENT ARTICLES

David Jones, director of Estates, Facilities, and Capital Development at University Hospital Southampton, and a fourth year PhD candidate, is researching the impact of the growing backlog maintenance level across England on patient safety incidents. He is looking both at the level of incidents directly linked to backlog maintenance, and at how ‘an aged estate’ is affecting staff in undertaking their work, and how this ultimately impacts patient safety. Here he discusses the key factors when looking at the impact of backlog maintenance, and explores what else we should be doing to improve our understanding of it, and reduce the severity of the issue.

Giles Hartley, Equipment Project manager for the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust’s Hospitals of the Future Project – who has a wealth of experience in the procurement and management of medical and non-medical equipment for healthcare facilities – explains the critical importance of developing a robust equipment strategy from the outset when embarking on designing and delivering new such facilities, and particularly complex, large-scale hospital projects.

While maintaining a sterile environment is aways a priority for on-premises laundries (OPLs), the importance of this factor is redoubled for healthcare estates – where eliminating the risk of cross-contamination is essential to preventing the spread of bacteria. With this in mind, Mick Christian, Training & Demonstration manager for Electrolux Professional UK & Ireland, discusses best practice, and how new technologies can help Laundry managers enhance both hygiene and productivity.