RECENT NEWS

London’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery has taken delivery, in a single day, of three large MRI magnets from Siemens Healthcare’s Total Imaging Matrix family as part of the ongoing project to complete the building of the hospital’s new imaging centre.

German private health services provider MediClin, which runs 30 hospitals throughout its home country, estimates it will reduce by at least £11,300 a year the heating bills at the first of the facilities to be fitted with an energy management system based on wireless sensors which shut off radiators when windows are opened.

Nuffield Hospitals, the UK’s largest notfor- profit independent healthcare provider, has agreed to sell nine of its hospitals to General Healthcare Group (GHG).

Portakabin has worked closely with the estates team at Dunfermline’s Queen Margaret Hospital and the hospital’s architect to design a new standalone ante-natal unit in just 16 weeks after hospital chiefs decided more space was needed in the main building for a new medical admissions unit.

Cases of MRSA bloodstream infection fell by 18% at hospitals in England between July and September last year compared to the previous quarter, the latest Health Protection Agency (HPA) figures show, while reported cases of C. difficile dropped by 21%.

One of Europe’s “most advanced” fleet of mobile operating theatres will be spending the next 18 months at Peterborough’s Edith Cavell Hospital.

LGV Capital has agreed to sell Classic Hospitals Group, reportedly the UK’s sixth largest acute hospital operator, to Spire Healthcare (formerly BUPA Hospitals), for £145 m.

Health Secretary Alan Johnson has officially opened a new medical research unit at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, designed by Sheffield architects Race Cottam Associates and said to be the first of its kind at a UK children’s healthcare facility.

Vending services provider Selecta has won a three-year contract to provide 24-hour vending to the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

Construction of the new £20 m Alloa and Clackmannanshire Hospital and Health Centre for NHS Forth Valley has started.

NHS patients in and around Havant should soon see greater availability of diagnostic services and reduced waiting times for investigations following the Department of Health’s awarding, to Care UK, of a contract to develop and run the Havant NHS Diagnostic Centre.

OCS Integrated Services Healthcare has won a five-year contract to supply a 24-hour support package to a Redbridge, Essex mental health unit and day hospital.

Twenty-three Tristel fully automated chlorine dioxide generators have been installed at UK NHS hospitals, for automatically delivering measured amounts of CIO2 to BHT’s Innova E series endoscope reprocessing (washer-disinfector) systems.

A £25 m ProCure21 contract at Watford General Hospital has been awarded to Medicinq Osborne, a consortium formed by Osborne, Midas Projects and Simons Construction.

Manchester’s Christie Hospital, one of Europe’s leading cancer treatment hospitals, has announced plans for a £35 m patient treatment centre which will incorporate the world’s biggest early trials unit and an expanded “world-class” chemotherapy centre.

A consultancy team led by one of Scandinavia’s leading architectural practices, CF Møller, which also includes staff from London practice Avanti Architects, has won the architectural competition for the biggest hospital construction project in Danish history.

IHEEM’s Irish branch, IHEEM Ireland, will host a series of educational sessions on topics ranging from “designing healthcare facilities through a sustainable model” to “procurement designed to deliver” at next month’s Healthcare Ireland conference and exhibition, being held at the RDS, Dublin from 23 to 24 April.

IHEEM recently opened its doors to a local college, South Downs, after its request that the Institute host a work experience placement for a student on the OCR Certificate in Administration course.

IHEEM says that, given recent announcements by the Prime Minister on the heightened importance of protecting public areas, plus the recent flooding in some parts of the country and the fire at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, there has never been a more important time to ensure the resilience of healthcare estates.

The ongoing debate over single inpatient accommodation versus four-bed bays will be among the key conference themes at IHEEM’s Healthcare Estates 2008 event, which is being held from 14 to 15 October at the Harrogate International Centre.