RECENT NEWS

Nine of the UK’s most prominent health and safety organisations have united to form the Occupational Safety and Health Stakeholder Alliance.

Northumberland-headquartered Merit, which claims to be ‘the UK’s leading industrialised construction and digital manufacturing specialist’, has been appointed by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust Foundation to design and deliver its new Elective Hub (Operating Theatre Block).

Construction by BAM of a new regional pathology laboratory at the Leeds General Infirmary has been completed, and – once operational – Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust says it will help ‘transform’ diagnostic services and testing right across West Yorkshire.

The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has called for a major injection of funding and planning into addressing the skills shortage which it claims is preventing the refurbishment and retrofitting of buildings in line with the Government's carbon reduction targets.

A clean air technology business has announced a major expansion in North America with a new facility to serve a growing client base in the pharmaceuticals sector.

A survey of 300 UK surgeons by global healthcare technology company, Medtronic, has found that each surgeon loses an average of four hours a week due to inefficient technology – equal to more than an entire working month each year.

Construction of the new main entrance at Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital in Portsmouth – which will include changing facilities and a Marks & Spencer food store among new patient and staff amenities – is now underway.

Assura plc, reportedly the UK private sector’s largest primary care property investor and developer, has moved on site with the development of a £11 million Ambulance Hub in Bury St Edmunds.

Plans for a new Diagnostic Centre at the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) in Great Yarmouth (see visualisation) have taken a further step forward following ‘a significant investment’ from the Department of Health and Social Care.

Medway NHS Foundation Trust has signed a long-term contract with TeleTracking UK to deliver the Trust’s new Care Co-ordination Centre, ‘a centralised, holistic approach for bed management and patient flow’.

CABE’s Building Inspector Competence Assessment Scheme has been approved as an independent provider scheme by the Building Safety Regulator (BSR).

Caddick Construction has completed construction of Milnrow & Newhey Medical Centre in Rochdale, which is set to be United Healthcare Developments’ ‘most sustainable’ healthcare facility, and will bring improved services to patients in Greater Manchester.

The Government's New Hospital Programme (NHP) has experienced delays, and is expected to deliver 32 of the intended target of 40 new hospitals by 2030, according to a new National Audit Office report (NAO).

NHS Property Services’ director of Responsible Business, Dr Shamir Ghumra, has been named in the Top 50 Workplace Leaders List in recognition of his influence and impact in the industry.

Assura Group has completed its 100th development at Prestbury in Wolverhampton. Work on Prestbury Medical Centre in Wolverhampton commenced in May 2022, and was completed on 29 June this year, with the new £6 m facility set to bring together two local surgeries with more than 14,500 patients, re-locating from premises that were not fit for purpose.

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals (DBTH) will commence construction of an elective orthopaedic centre at Montagu Hospital in Mexborough in mid-July, following investment of almost £15 million from NHS England (NHSE).

Johnson Controls says its new FireClass FC-EAS Evacuation Alert System is designed to provide fire and rescue service personnel with a simple, intuitive way to initiate an evacuation alert signal within high-rise structures.

A ‘one-of-its-kind’ £2 m charity-funded Health and Wellbeing Hub for staff at Chesterfield Royal Hospital (CRH) NHS Foundation Hospital has now been completed by construction partner Stepnell, and has opened as part of the NHS’s 75th anniversary celebrations.

A ‘breaking ground’ celebration has been held to mark the start of construction to build Oriel, a new eye care, research and education centre in Camden, to be the new home to Oriel partners: Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, and Moorfields Eye Charity.

Technical and energy solutions provider, Imtech, has announced the ‘re-branding’ of the majority of its UK operations to Dalkia, explaining that the move ‘reflects the commitment’ of parent companies, EDF UK and Dalkia, to the strategic growth of the business in the UK, and ‘reinforces their international growth ambitions’.