RECENT FEATURE ARTICLES
Fast-paced Portsmouth project finished in 28 weeks
Modular building provider, Wernick, has completed a new 72-bed building at Queen Alexandra Hospital for Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust. Providing urgently needed treatment and recovery areas, the £8.2 m building took just 28 weeks to complete, from design to handover.
COVID transforms thinking on hospital cleanliness
Maintaining hygiene in hospitals has never been a higher priority, due to COVID-19. Fortunately, there are a number of technologies that are helping medical staff fight back against infectious agents and help safeguard against future global pandemics, explains John Chewins, director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Bioquell.
Lancashire ‘surge hub’ created in just three weeks
A three-week timescale to create, construct, and fully fit out a surge hub in a hospital car park is a pretty daunting prospect. Five senior team members involved in such a project at a Lancashire acute Trust explain how this was achieved at the Royal Preston Hospital.
Energy-saving steps aim to cut emissions by 80 per cent
A major project to decarbonise North Tyneside General Hospital is well under way, with the aim of reducing its emissions by 80 per cent. Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s ‘commitment to taking concrete, meaningful action’ to reduce its environmental impact will see the hospital’s steam system replaced
Digital signage improving patient and staff experience
Healthcare providers are using digital signage and IPTV systems to manage ongoing COVID challenges, and subsequently recognising how AV systems can improve the patient experience, says Colin Farquhar, senior vice-president, Sales, at VITEC, a specialist in end-to-end video streaming.
Reviewing fire alarm protocols and reducing risk
The National Fire Safety lead at NHSE/I explains how NHS Trusts can review their fire alarm systems and implement effective protocols to ensure that risk reduction in this area meets statutory requirements.
Making sure ventilation is effective and fit for purpose
In March 2021 John Prendergast, MIHEEM, an Authorising Engineer (Decontamination), and Dr Jimmy Walker, Chair of the Central Sterilising Club, established, and have since led, a Working Group to review guidance for ventilation requirements in endoscope decontamination facilities.
Complying with the new BS standard on P. aeruginosa
IHEEM-registered AE (Water), Steve Mount, reviews the recently produced British Standard for risk assessment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other waterborne pathogens in healthcare premises, and the challenges facing organisations in complying with it.
COVER STORY: Starkstrom reports ‘considerable growth’ in demand
Starkstrom has its UK office and manufacturing facility in Syston, Leicester. The company is in its 51st year of offering integrated solutions for the design, supply, installation, and commissioning, of electrical safety solutions for Group 2 medical locations, and infrastructure and clinical products to NHS and private hospitals for operating theatres and ‘Recovery’, Critical Care, Emergency Departments, Endoscopy, and training facilities.
Financing smart buildings – value in the ‘new normal’
Jo Harris, Commercial Finance UK Sales director, Siemens Financial Services in the UK, discusses some of the benefits to both to occupiers and users of increasingly ‘smart’ healthcare buildings, and the role of ‘smart financing’ in their construction and operation.
When specifications don’t solve the problem
As specifications are passed down lengthy chains, sometimes the intent can be lost. Adam Fox, director at vibration isolation specialist, Mason UK, offers three key principles for writing a good specification.
Call for increased focus on primary care investment
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Healthcare Infrastructure recently discussed the need to invest in primary care, as well as acute hospital settings, for improved forward planning for greater NHS resilience, and for enhanced healthcare infrastructure in poorer, disadvantaged communities.
The fire doorset’s vital role as a first line of defence
Poor specification, installation, and maintenance of fire doorsets can have devastating consequences in the event of a fire – but especially so in very highly trafficked and occupied facilities such as hospitals. Here, David Hindle, head of Door Closer Sales at Assa Abloy Opening Solutions UK & Ireland, outlines the key considerations for healthcare estates personnel when choosing fire doorsets.
Pandemic lessons: gauging how NHS staff work now
Arcadis’ Sarah Miles and Smriti Singh discuss a recent project with an acute NHS Trust to discover how the pandemic has changed perceptions of hospital workspace, and ‘how we can start to implement change, both in physical space, and also in cultural views of hospital roles’.
‘Landmark’ CCU completed at Oxford’s John Radcliffe
A new 48-bedded Critical Care building at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, funded by the Department of Health and Social Care, and built by Modern Methods of Construction specialist, MTX, for Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, has been completed in just 15 months – from initial design to handover.
Green Plan progress and future opportunities in focus
NHS Trusts across England were required to submit a Green Plan by mid-January as part of the drive toward a Net Zero Carbon NHS. Beth Goodwin, an NHS specialist at Inenco – which has been helping a number deliver their Plans – discusses the approaches taken, and some as yet underexploited carbon reduction opportunities.
Combating Legionella by focusing on the right species
Jimmy Walker PhD, BSc, a microbiologist with over 30 years’ experience in water microbiology and decontamination, discusses the important aspects of Legionnaires’ disease for those with responsibility for hospital water systems, and what we need to understand about the presence of this waterborne pathogen in such systems to safeguard patients.
Smart hospital designed ‘through the patient’s eyes’
Canadian journalist Rebecca Melnyk describes the light, airy, and spacious design of what is reportedly Canada’s first ‘smart’ hospital – the new Cortellucci Vaughan Hospital in Vaughan, Ontario.
Biophilic design: designing for health
Biophilic design’s benefits for both acute and mental healthcare settings are well-recognised. South African interior designer, Antoinette Greeff, discusses the fundamentals of the ‘art’, and explains how the principles were deployed at a new assisted ward at a psychiatric facility.
Cleanroom monitoring system shows its benefits
NHS Orkney has recently extended its use of neQis independent monitoring solutions, adding continuous particle monitoring for the cleanroom of its central decontamination unit.
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