Increasing digitisation of the sophisticated information technology used in many hospitals and healthcare facilities has had major benefits in the provision of appropriate and timely care, but the additional efficiency gained could be jeapordised by interference caused by the presence of electromagnetic fields.

October’s 2018 Healthcare Estates IHEEM Awards Dinner in Manchester was attended by almost 500 guests, with the nine awards and a number of runner-up certificates recognising excellence in categories ranging from architecture to sustainable achievement.

​‘How healthy is you horse? – the future of the NHS’ – was the intriguing title of one of two opening keynotes on day one of Healthcare Estates 2018.

A look at the need for secondary preventative measures – alongside thermal control – to guard against significant growth and build-up of Legionella in hospital water systems.

Jonathan Waggott, of consultancy, Jonathan Waggott & Associates, a specialist in sanitary infection control issues, considers how the healthcare sector can adopt a broad range of more ‘sustainable’ practices – from using sustainable materials when building new hospitals, and implementing energy efficiency measures to cut both carbon footprint and utility costs, to a scheme where disposable shower heads and hoses are recycled into new ones.

Fire doors’ importance in protecting buildings and their users continues to be ‘vastly underestimated’, particularly in older healthcare buildings, says Intastop, which recently held a fire door safety seminar at its Doncaster headquarters, with expert speakers from both the NHS and the private sector.

Tiina Yli-Karhu, Design co-ordinator at the Hospital District of South Ostrobothnia, and PhD candidate at the University of Tampere, describes in detail the process – which included the application of ‘virtual reality’ technology – used to design a new intensive care unit (ICU) at the Seinäjoki Central Hospital in Finland, the country’s first 100 per cent single-bedded such facility.

A look at how a specialist in the field has deployed ‘next generation’ parking technology to greatly improve the car parking experience at the Manchester Royal Infirmary site. Visitors now enjoy ‘a stress-free’ car parking experience, thanks to a free-flow ANPR solution.

Speaking in Manchester last year, Cliff Jones, the Department of Health’s ProCure22 Framework lead, reflected on the considerable achievements to date of the ProCure22 Framework, and looked ahead to ‘some of the next steps’ as it further develops.

Championing engineers’ key role in society, addressing the shortage of engineers from all backgrounds in the UK, and close working with key engineering institutes to ensure that the profession’s voice is heard, are among the key priorities for Dr Hayaatun Sillem, who became the Royal Academy of Engineering’s CEO last January.

The head of Estates Operations and Trust Health and Safety at Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust discussed some of the particular challenges for the design and maintenance of hospitals in a marine environment at the IHEEM 2018 Regional Conference in Cardiff.

Water hygiene within hospitals and other healthcare estates is of paramount importance. Bob Blincowe, strategic account manager – UK Healthcare, at Trend Control Systems, explains how a building energy management system (BEMS) ‘can prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases by monitoring and controlling supply, storage, and distribution systems’.

Once viewed almost exclusively as temporary facilities built down to a cost, especially by the architectural community, modular off-site built healthcare buildings have enjoyed increasing success in recent years, as perceptions about their quality, and recognition of their advantages over “traditional” on-site constructed buildings,

With the NHS generating around 18 million tonnes of carbon and CO2 annually, estates personnel face a considerable challenge in meeting tough Government and EU energy reduction targets while maintaining patient safety/comfort amid predictions of, for instance, hotter summers.

A “bed pod” featuring “modesty screens”, enhanced acoustics, multi-level light, and extra storage; quickly erectable washroom “pods” for improving patient convenience and ward layout with minimal disruption;

It is recognised that hospital-acquired infection is a multi-faceted problem, and control of infection (CoI) can only be achieved via a combination of design and management factors, not by a single identifiable factor.

In a paper presented at the Institute of Hospital Engineering’s (IHEA) 2009 conference in Queensland, Phillip Carruthers, an associate director at Brisbane-based consulting engineers Norman Disney & Young (NDY), examines advances in heat rejection technology, and how they can be applied to air conditioning and refrigeration plant in healthcare and other facilities

In this adapted version of an article from The Australian Hospital Engineer, Kim Bruton, MIHEA, the magazine’s editor, and chief engineer at the Wodonga Hospital campus of the newly-formed Albury Wodonga Health Service in Victoria, Australia, describes a project to both analyse the impact of regular maintenance on plant performance, and significantly reduce energy consumption across the hospital estate in the future.

The financial and practical impact on healthcare provision of an ageing population, the growing pressure to design sustainable healthcare facilities, and the need for a more imaginative, innovative approach to planning healthcare buildings which meet both current and future demands, were among recurring themes at a recent conference staged in Holland by the NVTG, an IFHE national member and one of the Netherlands’ leading organisations for healthcare estates and facilities management personnel. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Clear at IHEEM's recently held multiple-track annual conference was how the workload of those providing and managing healthcare estate continues to grow. Nicholas Marshall and Lesley Adair report on numerous important pointers put forward for these professionals.