RECENT FEATURE ARTICLES
A sound answer to excess noise in hospitals
The debate around healthcare funding is very topical, but how could hospital managers better spend their NHS estate money to benefit patients and staff? Andrea Harman, Concept developer for Healthcare at Ecophon, discusses the value – in terms of tangible patient benefits – of investing in acoustic ceiling solutions.
A ‘zero-cost solution’ for managing disused property
With hospital closures ‘happening up and down the country’, preventing once functioning healthcare buildings from falling into dilapidation is crucial, argues Rogier Donkersloot, managing director of international ‘property guardian’ organisation, DEX Property Management.
Temporary power systems’ pre-emptive role
Craig Fleming, Sector leader for NHS & Government Services at Aggreko, discusses how temporary power solutions ‘can alleviate pressure on a beleaguered NHS estate while also helping it to meet longer-term sustainability targets’.
Certification, performance, and flexibility to consider
David Hindle, head of Door Closer Sales at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions UK & Ireland, discusses the main considerations for healthcare estates teams when specifying new door closers for a site, covering key issues such as certification, performance, and flexibility.
A collaborative approach on complex schemes
As refurbishments occupy a bigger proportion of the healthcare construction landscape, sensitive handling of works is more important than ever, and supplier relationships built on trust are essential, argues Chris Murphy, head of Operations at property maintenance and development specialist, Novus.
Nurse and personal attack alarm systems – a review
Richard Gibson, Technical director at Pinpoint, takes a look at some of the broad range of personal staff attack alarm systems now on the market, and considers the ‘pros and cons’ of some of the main technologies.
Coastal protection from an air-handling perspective
David Livingstone, a Chartered Engineer, and the managing director of DRLC, Consulting Engineers, discusses some of the key considerations for healthcare engineers to ensure that the performance of air-handling units in hospitals located in coastal areas is not compromised by corrosion created by the increased concentration of salt in the local atmosphere.
Maintaining supply in the event of flood or drought
Speaking at a climate change-themed IHEEM Regional Conference in Cardiff, Oswyn Parry, a training consultant at Airewater Associates, and a former Yorkshire Water microbiologist, gave an interesting address on ‘The effect of drought and flooding on drinking water quality’.
Teamwork pays off on St James’s projects
Two separate construction schemes within the Lincoln Wing at Leeds’s St James’s University Hospital – one involving refurbishing and updating two ageing ground floor wards to enable them to meet current clinical practice standards, improve the patient environment, and deliver lean methodology in support services, and the second to create two new decant theatres on the floor above to accommodate surgery while existing theatres are upgraded, have been successfully completed.
MMC techniques adopted for Norfolk and Norwich IRU
MTX will shortly complete a new 1,500 m2 Interventional Radiology Unit at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital. Mounted on the roof of the existing Outpatients’ East building, close to the Emergency Department, the new ‘IRU’ will significantly increase the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (NNUH)’s capacity to diagnose and treat vascular and other conditions using interventional radiology.
Transforming the way that we visualise space
David Broderick, Operations director for ISG’s Engineering Services business, discusses why he believes construction technology ‘holds the key to decentralised healthcare provision’.
Flooring’s important role in sound reduction
Chris McElroy, Specification and Design consultant at Altro, discusses some of the fundamentals for achieving good acoustics in healthcare settings, to the benefit of all users, with a particular focus on the role that well-designed floorcoverings can play.
What does the future hold for water safety?
Daniel Pitcher, managing director and Authorising Engineer (Water) at the Water Hygiene Centre, a ‘centre of excellence’ dedicated to independent water safety consultancy, considers future developments and changes for water safety, and focuses on some of the rapid detection and analysis technologies for detecting potentially harmful waterborne bacteria.
An interesting history for isolated power systems
Al Rufaie, a medical electrical consultant with over 40 years’ experience in the electrical industry, takes a look at the history and international development of medical IT (isolated power) power systems.
Making optimal use of the community estate
The NHS Health Infrastructure Plan (HIP) is intended to deliver a rolling five-year programme of investment in health infrastructure, including capital to build new hospitals and resolve critical safety issues across the NHS estate.
Modern technology can cut carbon emissions
The NHS is increasingly under pressure to reduce expenditure and tackle its environmental impact. Tony Orton, head of Healthcare Business Development at Centrica Business Solutions, examines the role of modern distributed energy technology in meeting these challenges.
Radical washbasin and new ‘pipe within a pipe’ system
A sanitaryware and infection control specialist who gained much of his 30 years’ plumbing and water hygiene expertise and experience at Armitage Shanks before establishing his own consultancy, has set up two new UK businesses to market two ‘ground-breaking new plumbing products’ aimed squarely at healthcare facilities.
Achieving ‘total delivery’ of healthcare infrastructure
Speaking in the opening keynote address on the second morning of last October’s Healthcare Estates 2019, Professor Michail Kagioglou, who is a Dean and Professor at the University of Huddersfield, addressed the subject, ‘Total delivery of healthcare infrastructure for patients, users, and communities’, and the work that he and his team have been undertaking around this goal – including with external partners – over recent months. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.
Varied career experiences of today’s female engineers
In January’s HEJ, editor, Jonathan Baillie, reported on the first half of a ‘Diversity and Equality’ roundtable in early November in London, at which topics ranged from encouraging more people from diverse genders and ethnic minorities into the sector, to some of the more challenging experiences for women engineers, such as around sexism, being passed over for promotion/training, and misconceptions over their professional abilities.
Applying a climate change lens to its buildings
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.
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