FEATURE ARTICLES

An IHEEM Regional Conference and Exhibition in Cardiff took place almost 75 years to the day after IHEEM was founded.

Jonathan Waggott, an expert in sanitary infection control issues, Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health, and member of the Worshipful Company of Plumbers who runs his own consultancy, takes a look at the many potential ways to clean and disinfect showers in the healthcare environment, and, drawing on study evidence, considers the efficacy of each.

An effective, reliable internal drainage system is a key requirement of any building, but perhaps nowhere more so than in a hospital. Jonathan Briafield, senior product manager at Geberit, examines ‘the growing issue’ of ageing cast iron drainage pipes in hospitals, and considers alternative materials available to Trusts.

Mike Healey, senior marketing manager at Rada, discusses why smart taps and showers ‘are at the bow wave of the Internet of Things’, and just one example of a technology that he believes will ‘revolutionise’ healthcare facilities.

A collaborative project to fully audit the backlog maintenance requirements and priorities for the engineering plant supplying the retained clinical estate at Walsall Manor Hospital has ‘brought numerous benefits’ to all involved. HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports.

Due to its crucial role in hygiene and infection control in healthcare facilities, but equally hospital water systems’ vulnerability to bacteria which can put the health of patients at risk, water hygiene and safety are key and – on large estates – often constant concerns for healthcare estates professionals.

Musa Kızılay, a project principal for Turkey at global management, engineering, and development consultancy, Mott MacDonald, explains how it is ‘helping to transform’ the country’s health system.

Phil Wakelam, business development manager (Midlands) at specialist in the field, Unitrunk, discusses the cable management requirements for the high-specification electrical installation of the University of Buckingham’s new Medical School Academic Centre at Milton Keynes University Hospital.

Apprenticeships continue to play a key part in attracting new talent to the healthcare sector, and are a core focus for IHEEM; at a recent roundtable discussion facilitated by the Institute, participants including representatives from NHS Trusts, NHSI, the supplier sector, HefmA, training providers, and IHEEM itself, got together to discuss apprenticeship and effective succession planning.

With women currently making up only 12 per cent of the UK’s engineering workforce, HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports on the goals and planned work of IHEEM’s new Diversity and Inclusion Working Group. Two of the key initial priorities for it will be to champion women’s role in healthcare engineering and estate management, and to seek to do all it can to encourage more female entrants to the profession.

June’s Hospital Innovations 2018 in London event saw the second IHEEM roundtable held in IHEEM’s 75th Anniversary year focus on NHS apprenticeships, with a particular emphasis on ongoing work by NHSI, in conjunction with the professional institutes, to establish a national engineering apprenticeship for healthcare engineers. HEJ’s August 2018 issue (pages 32-36) reported on the first half of the discussions, while here we cover the second part.

Like his predecessor, Pete Sellars, Ian Hinitt, who will become IHEEM’s President for the next two years at the Institute’s 2018 AGM next month, began his career as an apprentice. He says the skills he learnt as a tradesman – starting as an apprentice fitter – are, for him, ‘the very best of life skills’, having instilled in him a strong team-working ethic, self-reliance, resilience, and ‘a life-long passion for innovation’.

Russ Sharer, Vice-President of Global Marketing for Fulham, a ‘manufacturer of innovative and energyefficient lighting sub-systems for lighting manufacturers and distributors worldwide’, explores the capabilities of Bluetooth Mesh in faster tracking and location of key equipment in hospitals, and explains how the technology can easily be embedded into its LED drivers.

Eastwood Park Training employs ‘healthcare experts’ to contribute to the training delivered at its South Gloucestershire training centre, with its philosophy that the sector perspective ‘ensures that the learning reflects what really takes place in hospital estates’. Here, with the focus on water safety, three Eastwood Park water trainers provide different perspectives on the topic and the issues facing estates teams currently.

With growing demand for healthcare services, and acutely limited resources, tracking the location of hospital beds and mattresses with RFID can see significant efficiency gains and improvements in patient safety. So says the RFID product manager for Healthcare at RFiD Discovery, who provides an overview of the available technologies.

A new 344-bedded hospital opened late last year just outside Dumfries, jointly designed by architectural practices Ryder Architecture and NBBJ, was conceived as a ‘garden hospital’, with a design focused on light and landscape made possible by its rural setting. Wards are surrounded by garden spaces, some of which play an integral part in therapeutic practice.

The UK and Eire distributor of a Norwegian-developed vacuum drainage technology that reportedly consumes one-sixth to one-eighth the volume of water used during flushing of traditional ‘gravity’ toilets, sets out this and the technology’s other practical and cost-saving benefits.

HEJ’s editor spoke to former chairman of the IHEEM Publications Committee, Amos Millington, about his engineering career – which began with an apprenticeship at legendary British aviation manufacturer, de Havilland, some of his most memorable experiences, and the people he met along the way.

June’s Hospital Innovations 2018 event saw the year’s second IHEEM roundtable focus on NHS apprenticeships, with a particular emphasis on ongoing work to establish a national engineering apprenticeship for healthcare engineers

In an article first published in Australian magazine, Healthcare Facilities, a mineral insulated cable specialist discusses the potential consequences should the electrical wiring systems that connect vital fire safety systems fail during a fire, and actions to take to minimise the risk.