A system that uses electrochemical activation to provide ‘ongoing and consistent disinfection’ of a healthcare facility’s water system described.

A global floor coverings manufacturer, with a new £17 m factory in the Netherlands, discusses how the optimal flooring can create a healthy, hygienic, and comfortable patient recovery environment.

The role of the AE (Decontamination) examined, in the first of a series of planned articles on the work of IHEEM’s four Authorising Engineer Registers.

Healthcare Facilities Management 2019, a one-day event being held on 12 June in Solihull combining a topical conference with a wide-ranging exhibition, will cover topics ranging from cleaning standards and transport/ car parking in healthcare facilities, to managing food waste, fire safety, and security.

Keen to showcase its expertise as a supplier of complete turnkey operating theatre solutions, Bender UK has opened a new, purpose-built operating theatre at its Cumbria headquarters, where it can demonstrate its complete range of theatre and clinical equipment.

A leading independent supplier of process filtration and water treatment products discusses its expertise, and explains how its recent creation of five new business dedicated ‘channnels’ should enhance its business and sales focus to a claimed 4,500 customers – including healthcare engineering teams – across the UK and Europe.

The importance of a stable, able, and adaptable workforce in meeting some of the changing challenges facing an ever-more technology-enabled NHS was among the key themes to emerge at this year’s Healthcare Estates conference.

The Healthcare Estates IHEEM Awards Dinner 2019 on 8 October saw some 650 guests – the highest number in the dinner’s history – celebrate the presentation of nine awards and a number of runner-up certificates, recognising achievement and excellence in categories ranging from New Build Project of the Year to Sustainable Achievement.

The Institute’s busiest and biggest Healthcare Estates conference to date, addressing skills shortages through investment in training, education, CPD, and apprenticeships, joint working with other professional engineering bodies in pursuit of common aims, and further work to strengthen IHEEM’s national and international profile, were among the topics covered by Ian Hinitt in a wide-ranging President’s Address in November

A Northern Irish NHS Trust’s efforts to significantly reduce its carbon footprint and fossil fuel usage, and increase its use of renewables, via what its Estates engineering team dub ‘an innovative multidisciplinary approach across the mediums of software, hardware, plant, design, contract analysis, and training’, were rewarded when it won the Lord Carter Innovation Award 2019 at an IHEEM event held in Westminster in mid-November. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.

Two innovative new hospital projects designed by healthcare specialist architects, BDP, feature what the practice’s Architect director believes are ‘among the most ambitious designs to date for seamless emergency care’.

Hospitals regularly suffer with high numbers of cars arriving at site, with their drivers wanting to use onsite parking, resulting in a higher demand for car parking spaces than is actually available. Here Simon Bourke, Healthcare Sector lead for global professional services firm, RPS Group, looks at the key considerations, and at some of the key steps in developing an effective Travel Plan, with a focus on the positive outcomes resulting from doing this at two large acute NHS Trusts.

Working with UK thermometer manufacturer, TM Electronics UK, hospital estate managers in the States of Guernsey are using ‘practical, low cost temperature strategies’ to speed up and simplify water temperature monitoring across their healthcare estate, as well as to ensure that their hospitals’ water systems comply with the demanding requirements of the Department of Health & Social Care’s HTM 04-01 and the HSE’s ACoP ‘L8’ guidance on the control of Legionella in water systems.

With women currently making up only 12 per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce, HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports on the goals and planned work of IHEEM’s new Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. Two of the key initial priorities for it will be to champion women’s role in healthcare engineering and estate management, and to seek to do all it can to encourage more female entrants to the profession.

Phil Wakelam, business development manager (Midlands) at specialist in the field, Unitrunk, discusses the cable management requirements for the high-specification electrical installation of the University of Buckingham’s new Medical School Academic Centre at Milton Keynes University Hospital.

Eastwood Park Training employs ‘healthcare experts’ to contribute to the training delivered at its South Gloucestershire training centre, with its philosophy that the sector perspective ‘ensures that the learning reflects what really takes place in hospital estates’. Here, with the focus on water safety, three Eastwood Park water trainers provide different perspectives on the topic and the issues facing estates teams currently.

Russ Sharer, Vice-President of Global Marketing for Fulham, a ‘manufacturer of innovative and energyefficient lighting sub-systems for lighting manufacturers and distributors worldwide’, explores the capabilities of Bluetooth Mesh in faster tracking and location of key equipment in hospitals, and explains how the technology can easily be embedded into its LED drivers.

Due to its crucial role in hygiene and infection control in healthcare facilities, but equally hospital water systems’ vulnerability to bacteria which can put the health of patients at risk, water hygiene and safety are key and – on large estates – often constant concerns for healthcare estates professionals.

Catherine Zeliotis, senior associate and Healthcare leader at global architectural practice, Stantec, discusses ‘the innovative approach to building design and layout’ used to facilitate simplified patient journeys and integrated treatment pathways at the Taussig Cancer Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

A variety of topics related to medical device safety were discussed at a recent event in Glasgow.