NHS CEO, Sir Simon Stevens (pictured), has announced that the NHS and its staff will ‘step up action to tackle the climate health emergency’ via three key measures – the first a new ‘expert panel’ to “chart a practical route map this year to enable the NHS to get to ‘net zero’”, the second a proposed new NHS Standard Contract calling on hospitals to reduce carbon from buildings and estates, switch to ‘less polluting anaesthetic gases and better asthma inhalers’, and encourage more active travel for staff, and the third a ‘grassroots campaign’ to encourage staff and hospitals ‘to cut their impact on people’s health and the environment’.

Rebecca Wareham, Sustainability coordinator assistant at Canadian healthcare provider, Island Health, and the company’s Energy manager, Joe Ciarniello, report on its recent work to address climate impact vulnerabilities associated with extreme weather, with a particular focus on the Nanaimo General Hospital on Vancouver Island.

Craig Smith, FIH, MRIPH, head of Corporate Affairs at ISS, and National Chair of the Hospital Caterers Association, explains how ISS Healthcare addressed the challenge of being invited to provide the overall soft FM lead at the new NHS Nightingale Hospital London in the capital’s Docklands.

‘The most pertinent and repeated’ question the company has received in recent days is ‘How should we manage clinical waste in relation to COVID-19 crisis?’ Here he explains how such waste can be safely and responsively disposed of.

Jonathan Baillie, recently spoke to David Hartley, managing director at MTX Contracts, about how modern methods of construction have become increasingly popular for a variety of healthcare buildings in recent years.

How a provider of software, consultancy, training, support, and IT and document management solutions, helped the Digital Innovation and Strategic Estates teams at Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ‘kick off their BIM journey’, and improve the data collection process.

Experts from the University of Stirling have created a new tool which they say was developed ‘to support families, businesses, and professionals, to make homes, premises, and public places, more accessible to an ageing population and those living with dementia’.

A new report, 'Engineering Ethics: maintaining society’s trust in the engineering profession', has been published ‘to ensure that ethical culture and practice become embedded in the engineering profession in the same way as health and safety considerations’.

Gavin Thompson, former CEO of engineering consultancy, Buro Happold, explains that the business is ‘transforming how healthcare estates collaborate… by adoption of digital innovation’.

Jess Twemlow, associate director (Sustainability and Circular Economy), at global strategic and environmental consultancy, Ricardo, argues that the NHS in England’s Net Zero ambitions will only be achieved ‘with radical and immediate engagement of the clinical community’, including work around sustainable models of care, procurement, food and catering, and medicines.

A mobile cancer care unit which can be extended hydraulically from its sides to create two consultation rooms has been launched and is being used to provide treatment to patients in the West Yorkshire.

Dave Palmer from temperature control specialist, ICS Cool Energy, on some of the key heating and cooling demands on healthcare facilities, and on how these can be met in a sustainable and efficient way.

Lianne Knotts, director of Medical Architecture, looks at the ways in which an integrated model of care can, and indeed has been, used to address the complex health needs of coastal towns.

John Evans, Wandsworth Healthcare, explains how the company delivered a reliable alarm system for a surgical ward at Basildon University Hospital in Essex to instantly alert hospital staff to ventilator failure, removal, or misuse.

One positive outcome of the COVID-19 crisis has been the increased focus on improving the ventilation of indoor spaces, and the need to measure indoor air quality (IAQ).

Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report.

Clubs, schools, day centres, and other community settings, could help make health and care more accessible, new research suggests.

The Water Management Society’s latest course focuses on the requirements for water hygiene training, as detailed in HTM 04-01: Safe water in healthcare premises, and the NHS Estates Technical Bulletin (NETB) No. 2024/3, 'Designing safe spaces for patients at high risk of infection from nontuberculous mycobacteria and other waterborne pathogens'.

Building on success in delivering its solution for NHS Trusts to manage their PAM submissions, QuiqSolutions, in conjunction with IHEEM, is launching a suite of digital tools to assist in EFM governance and the AE auditing process.

Josiah Padget, Lead consultant and Healthcare manager of CETEC Pty in Australia, highlights some of the key ventilation, building fabric, and airflow requirements to minimise the risk of infection in hospitals and other healthcare environments, while maximising energy efficiency and thus reducing energy costs.