The last six months have provided a unique opportunity to review current behaviour, evaluate best practice, and reconsider hygiene in healthcare facilities.

With the coronavirus pandemic seeing the rapid construction of an emergency hospital in Wuhan, Burkhard Musselmann, Managing Principal and healthcare architect at Stantec, and Maria Ionescu, senior healthcare architect, discuss 'what we've learned.

The post-virus world sets immense challenges for every aspect of the healthcare estate, particularly in the creation of modern facilities which are fit-for purpose to accommodate the latest technology and practices.

Mervyn Phipps, an IHEEM-registered Authorising Engineer (Water) and water hygiene trainer at Eastwood Park, examines the guidance in the new HTM 04-01, Safe Water in Healthcare Premises (2016), published last year.

Despite the devices’ widespread use, many leading industry experts maintain that there is a substantial knowledge gap spanning the specification, use, and management, of point-of-use (POU filters). Water hygiene specialist, Aqua free, says it is ‘tackling this head on’.

Eur.Ing David Cooper, MD of UK-based independent lift consultants, LECS (UK), considers what he dubs ‘the heavy load of documentation, legal obligations, and standards to be reached at the varying stages in the lifecycle’ of a lift within the healthcare setting, and ‘when to ease the headache with independent engineering advice’.

An effective, reliable internal drainage system is a key requirement of any building, but perhaps nowhere more so than in a hospital. Jonathan Briafield, senior product manager at Geberit, examines ‘the growing issue’ of ageing cast iron drainage pipes in hospitals, and considers alternative materials available to Trusts.

Dave Lancaster, Applications specialist (Building Services) from plumbing, heating, cooling, and infrastructure specialist, Uponor, discusses the risk of Legionella in hospital water systems, and the ways in which that risk can be addressed through design best practice and pipe specification.

11. 3. Lam, of the Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, provides a step-by-step guide to designing resilient healthcare buildings in areas prone to natural disaster.

IHEEM is one of several prominent UK engineering bodies to be a signatory to a recent Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) response to a consultation document on the future of science and engineering in the UK published by the Government’s Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) last July.

A “highly effective” three-way partnership between architects Anshen+Allen, the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and Laing O’Rourke, has created a non-institutional and welcoming new cancer treatment and renal services centre in Newcastle upon Tyne which, despite the gruelling nature of some of the therapies set to be offered, has a character and feel early users describe as “more like a four-star hotel” than a conventional healthcare facility. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Conor Ellis, head of health sector at international built asset consultancy EC Harris, argues that steps to “drive further value” from the existing healthcare estate, coupled with an approach to investment that mirrors best practice in the commercial sector, will be needed to meet patients’ rising healthcare expectations in an ever more competitive market.

Jeremy Dodge, head of technical services and product development at specialist cable management manufacturer Marshall-Tufflex, examines how the latest such systems are designed not only to be to be much quicker and easier to install, but equally to meet the higher aesthetic expectations demanded by estates personnel, and even to help combat infection spread. Also examined are the pros and cons of plastic systems over their metal counterparts.

With mounting pressure on hospitals and other healthcare facilities to reduce their energy bills, coupled with the need to reduce their carbon footprint, developer and supplier of combined heat and power systems Cogenco argues that adding CHP plant to existing energy generation equipment such as gas boilers has never made greater financial sense. Jonathan Baillie reports

John Edwards, senior director, Global Healthcare Solutions, at Primex Wireless, discusses the challenges, solutions, and benefits, of implementing process automation and intelligent power management applications to help hospitals and other healthcare facilities save time, reduce costs, boost productivity, and ensure optimal regulatory compliance and patient safety.

According to Alan Hambidge, director of Empathy Environmental Consultants, having in place effective, documented risk management systems and policies should be “a given” for any large healthcare organisation today.

Peter Barker, senior consultant at fire testing, consultancy, and certification specialist Chiltern International Fire, discusses the importance for healthcare estates personnel of training and competence in all aspects of passive fire prevention/protection, with a special focus on ensuring that fire doors are properly specified for purpose and regularly maintained.

In a presentation given at a recent IHEEM seminar, “Total water management within healthcare premises”, held at London’s Royal Society of Arts, David Harper, one of the UK’s leading independent experts in Legionella,

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).

It may come as a surprise to learn that IHEEM’s membership base is predominately within the private sector, with only 40% of its membership working for the NHS, writes Tammy Simmons, the Institute’s recruitment manager.