FEATURE ARTICLES
Durability, acoustics, and aesthetics key to ceilings
Ceiling systems play a key role in creating appropriate room acoustics, and as noise levels in healthcare settings and the quality of the interior environment are known to considerably impact recovery and patient wellbeing, making the right choice should be a key consideration for specifiers such as healthcare estates teams, says Simon Humphrey, Technical manager at acoustic ceiling manufacturer, OWA.
‘Safer, greener’ sharps management examined
Jenna Davies, Global Product manager, Clinical Waste Management, at Vernacare, discusses the risks surrounding needlestick injuries in healthcare facilities, and emphasises that all staff should be trained in how to work safely with sharps, how to safely dispose of them, and what to do if an injury occurs.
Designers need to better understand the risks
In the second in a series of three articles on an infection and prevention control theme from the established architectural practice – the first appeared in the October 2024 HEJ – Melanie Jacobsen Cox, head of Healthcare at HLM Architects, considers some of the key infection and prevention and control (IPC) challenges healthcare design teams face, and suggests there is still a lack of sufficient knowledge on the subject among many such teams designing hospitals and other healthcare buildings.
New Malawi training centre ‘transformational’
Paul Moores, a founding director of FBW Group based in Kampala, Uganda, since 1998, describes the practice’s work, following initial design by another firm, to lead the African design and technical team to take forward a specialist postgraduate medical and research training centre in Malawi’s second biggest city.
Harnessing data through digital building tech
Martin Bissell, Emily Scoones, and James Thomson of Buildings (Digital) at global architecture, engineering, and consultancy company, Ramboll, argue that to stand a realistic chance of meeting its tough Net Zero targets within the timelines currently specified, the healthcare sector must adopt a multi-faceted approach. By embracing digital building tools and data, they say the sector has the chance to take meaningful steps to decarbonise existing building stock and achieve Net Zero targets, while simultaneously reducing its energy spend.
Smart solutions aiding more efficient water use
Effective water management in healthcare estates is critical for ensuring patient safety and sustainability. Richard Braid, managing director at Keraflo, explains how advances in technology can help healthcare engineering teams monitor and maintain water safety, reduce waste, and ‘ensure that this valuable resource is on hand the moment it is needed’.
Inside the ‘world’s first’ organ regeneration lab
John Gregory, a former journalist, and a partner at Toronto-based CGC Educational Communications, describes work to design and build and what is said to be the world’s first organ regeneration laboratory, at Toronto General Hospital in Canada. A senior redevelopment director at the new facility says the procedures undertaken there will ‘change what is done across the planet’.
Minimising electrical risks in Group 2 locations
Timo Ohtonen, managing director and owner of the Finnish health tech company, PPO-Elektroniikka Oy, explains the critical importance of electrical safety within Group 2 healthcare premises, focusing on medical IT systems employing insulation monitoring (IMD).
Gala dinner a chance to celebrate success
This year’s Healthcare Estates IHEEM Awards, presented at a ‘sellout’ gala dinner on 8 October at Manchester’s Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, saw 650 guests witness the presentation of 13 awards, including one celebrating Lifetime Achievement. After a three-course dinner, footballing legend, Kevin Keegan, entertained guests with some amusing and interesting recollections from an incredible career. The genial former striker also chatted to attendees – many of whom remembered seeing him play – throughout an enjoyable and lively evening celebrating achievement, innovation, and commitment. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
A passion for engineering and for people within it
IHEEM’s 2024 AGM at Healthcare Estates 2024 in Manchester saw the Institute’s first female President, Alison Ryan, hand over to her successor, Nigel Keery OBE, Eur.Ing, C.Eng, B.Eng (Hons) FIHEEM, MCIBSE, in his ‘day job’ Head of Estates Operations at Belfast Health and Social Care Trust. Following in the footsteps of his grandfather, father, and an uncle who were all electrical engineers, and with his son and daughter now in healthcare engineering jobs, his role at one of Europe’s biggest public healthcare providers has given him some sleepless nights, but his enthusiasm for engineering remains undimmed, he told HEJ‘s editor, Jonathan Baillie, on meeting him by ‘Teams’.
COVID-19’s impact on the long-term estate
Charlotte Hutchinson, Associate partner, Carter Jonas (London), discusses the long-term impacts of the global pandemic on the future provision of healthcare real estate
Helping shape the estate of Greater London’s PCNs
Elisa Berry BA(Hons), BArch(Hons), RIBA, Director and architect at Howarth Litchfield, explains how the Durham-based architecture and interior design practice has been leading work with some of Greater London’s Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in response to the revised NHSE/I PCN Estates Guidance of 2020, which required PCNs to have a PCN Estate Strategy, supported by a PCN Clinical Strategy.
CAFM systems can ease estate management
Implementing a centralised Computer-Aided Facilities Management (CAFM) system to manage ongoing workflow and maintenance can make healthcare estates more efficient, while also ensuring that ‘nothing falls through the cracks with regards to compliance’. So says Nigel Robinson, General manager of international facilities management software provider, Service Works Global, who explains how to implement a digital strategy and the resulting benefits, with examples from work carried out with the Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust.
A look at bringing verification ‘in house’
Dr Scott Brown, managing director and lead consultant for Health Tech Solutions, explores the benefits – including the opportunities for significant cost savings – of moving verification of specialist healthcare ventilation ‘in house’, along with the associated risks.
Decarbonising allied to healthy design principles
Amid shifting budget constraints and pressing Net Zero targets, M&E designers and architects are re-evaluating the way they approach the design of healthcare facilities. However, says Steve Richmond, head of Marketing and Technical at Rehau Building Solutions, it is critical that these new considerations do not impact the wellbeing of patients and staff. Here he discusses the importance of instilling healthy design principles ‘to facilitate truly sustainable growth for the sector’.
‘The next generation of assurance tools’
In an article in the September 2023 issue of HEJ, Quiqsolutions Business Development director, Health and Care, Paul Kaye, explained how – working with IHEEM – the company was set to launch a suite of tools to aid EFM governance and compliance. Here he explains how the past year has seen Quiqsolutions and IHEEM’s Technical Platforms work together again to develop ‘the next generation of assurance tools’, and standardised audit and pre-audit templates across key estates technical areas such as Ventilation, Water, Decontamination, Electrical, and Medical Gases.
Digital technology can aid task management
Matt Jeffreys, Commercial director of Healthcare at Wandsworth Group, discusses some of the key benefits of digital technology in improving task management in hospitals and other healthcare facilities – in areas ranging from catering and cleaning to portering and bed management.
Taking the pain out of ERIC data collection
In the complex landscape of healthcare administration, one major challenge NHS Trusts face is gathering data for the annual Estates Returns Information Collection (ERIC) report – especially as analysing data from the various departments and units becomes key to meeting looming zero carbon goals. Highlighting the hurdles that NHS Trusts encounter in ERIC reporting and related sustainability endeavours, Nicholas Hughes, senior manager of Healthcare at MRI Software, examines technology’s ‘pivotal role’ in overcoming these challenges
The prescription for smart hospital success
Deteriorating infrastructure, an ageing and growing patient population, and budgetary constraints, have resulted in hospitals facing significant operational challenges. Digitalisation offers healthcare facilities an unprecedented opportunity to do more with less, as Steve Jamieson, Healthcare Sector lead at Siemens Smart Infrastructure, explains.
Hitting Net Zero without harming patient safety
Anil Madan, Non-Residential Marketing manager at Ideal Standard UK and Armitage Shanks, discusses one of the key modern-day challenges for the NHS – the imperative to reach Net Zero, but to do so without harming patient safety, and some of the key ways this might be achieved
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