Senior estates and facilities staff from the NHS Estates and Facilities Efficiency and Productivity Division at NHSI led a well-attended seminar on workforce planning in Birmingham in April. The event brought together senior healthcare estates directors from over 30 NHS Trusts, and representatives of IHEEM, HefmA, and IPEM, to discuss key succession and skills gap issues facing the sector.

NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) has launched a new Construction Consultancy Services Framework, which it says is expected to save the public sector some £16 million over the next four years.

Enabling NHS and wider public sector organisations to access services such as quantity surveying, civil engineering, and architecture, it provides a fully compliant route for public sector purchasing teams to access a comprehensive range of construction consultancy services.

The Construction (Retention Deposit Schemes) Bill has just been published in time for its 2nd Reading on Friday (27 April 2018).

The Bill stipulates that, unless the monies are protected, any clause in a construction contract enabling the deduction of cash retentions will be invalid. Cash retentions will have to be safeguarded within a retention deposit scheme. The Bill will apply to the whole of the UK.

The latest advantages in lighting technologies and controls are addressed in the new edition of Lighting Commissioning Code L, from CIBSE and the Society of Light and Lighting.

Keeping the water supply safe is an integral part of hospital hygiene and infection prevention. To minimise contamination risks, explains Julie Spinks, managing director of WRAS, healthcare estates teams need to be fully aware of their regulatory responsibilities, rigorously apply risk management, use compliant products, and employ approved contractors.

The in-use benefits of patient, staff, and asset tracking technologies are now becoming ever clearer, especially in freeing up more time for care, improving patient flow, and facilitating finding key hospital equipment quickly.

A report on the positive results from a recent NHS hospital trial of a point-of-use filter which is reportedly ‘fully reprocessable’, and thus – following use – the filter cartridge and the housing can be decontaminated and re-used.

John Thatcher, CEO at Eastwood Park, discusses the real value of training, and sets out the key elements that he believes have distinguished the Gloucestershire based non-clinical healthcare training centre for the past 48 years.

Catherine Zeliotis, healthcare leader and senior associate at global healthcare architectural practice, Stantec (pictured), discusses the latest thinking in the design of cancer centres, providing best practice examples from Stantec projects throughout the world.

As a manufacturer and supplier of high quality alarm systems for over 35 years, SAS has extensive experience in providing protection and safety for staff and service-users.

A Bristol-based arts consultancy has commissioned artists to redesign the Bereavement Suite and Sanctuary Space at Bristol Royal Infirmary to provide more solace and comfort to bereaved visitors and relatives as part of a major conversion and extension project.

A specialist in offsite construction argues that only with a much greater take-up of this form of building will the Government’s 2025 Construction Industry Targets be met.

A look at how innovation that helped creating the striking new Alder Hey Children’s Hospital has continued since it opened, with a wealth of activities designed to improve the patient experience and foster medical advances being championed by a new ‘Innovation Hub’.

Associate directors at Arup – which offers a range of multidisciplinary design, planning, engineering, consultancy, and technical professional services, Malcolm Turpin, Catherine Wells, and Steven Berry, and director Jennifer DiMambro, consider some of the particular challenges of designing health and scientific research buildings

Mark Elton of Cowan Architects looks at the potential for Passivhaus technology in hospital estates, and urges the UK ‘to take note of what is already happening on the Continent to reduce unnecessary heating bills while improving patient and staff comfort for a healthier outcome’.

Mark Anfield, Operations Director at Capita Parking Services (ParkingEye & Capita Parking Services), examines the company’s approach to ensuring that car parking on hospital sites is as stress-free as possible for patients, visitors, and staff – an area where technology such as ANPR cameras and automated payment can play a big part.

A specialist supplier focuses on the issues surrounding the commissioning, auditing, maintenance, and operation of medical gas pipeline systems, and explains the key steps to take to ensure a safe, reliable supply.

‘A revolution in the compressor industry’. That is what Atlas Copco says it triggered when launching the GA VSD+, ‘the most innovative compressor in recent years’. This technology is now also available in a variant for use in HTM and ISO-compliant medical air plants.

Vernacare – whose single-use human waste management system is reportedly used by 96% of NHS Trusts, and in healthcare facilities in 48 countries – has agreed a five-year supply deal with Manipal, one of Asia’s largest healthcare management groups.

A conference in Nottingham addressed the potential impact of digital technology and medical devices on addressing productivity and patient safety challenges.