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

Efficient use of energy, care for the environment and working in a sustainable way are becoming increasingly important, and IHEEM is staging a series of seminars looking at these areas. Particular focus will be on sustainability issues.

“Shaping the Future” will be the theme of a two-day conference and exhibition being staged by the Institute’s Northern Ireland Branch later this month at the Marine Court Hotel in Bangor.

Darren Ling, a director of ventilation and kitchen extract duct cleaning specialist System Hygienics, explains why pre-commission cleaning is essential to combating the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs).

A new corporate (Affiliate) category of Institute membership now open to all NHS Trusts offers both an opportunity for more Trust staff to take advantage of the broad range of benefits available to IHEEM members, plus an additional 5% subscription discount for all members employed by the Trust taking up the membership.

The first published results of a study into copper’s anti-microbial properties undertaken on a ward at Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital (Health Estate Journal – November 2008) have conclusively shown that surfaces made with materials containing the metal kill a wide range of potentially harmful microorganisms.

The first published results of a study into copper’s anti-microbial properties undertaken on a ward at Birmingham’s Selly Oak Hospital (Health Estate Journal – November 2008) have conclusively shown that surfaces made with materials containing the metal kill a wide range of potentially harmful microorganisms.

With healthcare organisations facing new obligations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and a raft of other environmental legislation, strategic outsourcing and management company Mitie has launched what it claims is “the UK’s first all-encompassing fully integrated carbon management service”.

With healthcare organisations facing new obligations under the Carbon Reduction Commitment, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and a raft of other environmental legislation, strategic outsourcing and management company Mitie has launched what it claims is “the UK’s first all-encompassing fully integrated carbon management service”.

A Legionella Control Association ‘open day’ included a high-level overview of emerging rapid microbiology techniques designed to help identify hazardous waterborne bacteria – fast.

The key considerations when choosing lighting for healthcare settings, with a reminder that, while important, there is more to effective lighting schemes than simply cost control.

Speaking at a recent Water Management Society conference, Ginny Moore, of Public Health England (PHE), described how the latest thinking, and the results of recent research and experience on minimising the risk of growth and spread of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria in healthcare plumbing systems.

In this article, Dave Mortimer MIHEEM, national sales manager, Vapac, at Eaton-Williams, examines the importance of getting humidification levels right in all areas of hospitals and other healthcare facilities to maximise patient, staff, and visitor comfort and safety, and minimise the risk of infection transmission and spread. His experience is that, too often, the importance of installing new humidification equipment is overlooked, or that existing such equipment is switched off where it needs to operate, or simply not replaced when it breaks down.

Although temperature control has been the UK’s longest-serving means of controlling the growth and proliferation of Legionella in hot and cold water systems, there are other factors, including major rises in energy costs, that warrant the use of biocides – including in the healthcare sector.

DuPont claims that electrical arc, and the resulting “arc flash”, are among the deadliest, least understood hazards of electricity”, and can potentially occur in many industrial and other applications, including hospital plant rooms.

One of the UK’s leading fabricators and installers of commercial glazing, Britplas, says it plans to work with manufacturers and suppliers of a wide range of hardware, fixtures, fittings, and furniture supplied into mental healthcare facilities to establish uniform tests that will enable NHS specifiers to buy such items confident that they are safe, fit-for-purpose, robust, and do not, for example, claim to have an anti-ligature design when they do not.

Many larger hospitals are sprawling complexes with endless corridors and rooms of varying purpose. While cleanliness and infection control are, understandably, leading considerations in any hospital building, fire safety also plays a crucial role.

Training establishment, Eastwood Park, says that a ‘unique’ new course called Essentials for Estates will ‘deliver just that’ – an opportunity for estates and facilities managers, and those aspiring to the role, to ‘improve their existing core skills, as well as gain new tools and guidance to enable them to operate more effectively in today’s challenging and changing healthcare environment’.

Few industry sectors have energy demands quite like healthcare. By definition, many buildings involved in treating the sick and injured need to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

To better serve its members and the wider healthcare estates industry, IHEEM has formed ‘alliances’ with two professional trade associations that share aims with the Institute.