FEATURE ARTICLES

Water hygiene within hospitals and other healthcare estates is of paramount importance. Bob Blincowe, strategic account manager – UK Healthcare, at Trend Control Systems, explains how a building energy management system (BEMS) ‘can prevent the outbreak of waterborne diseases by monitoring and controlling supply, storage, and distribution systems’.

Paul Millard, Technical manager at WRAS (The Water Regulations Advisory Scheme), explains some of the key areas where hospitals and other healthcare premises can act to prevent contamination of the water system, and thus effectively protect patients, visitors, and employees. He also focuses on the accompanying legal and regulatory obligations.

Dr Nick Hill, Authorising Engineer (Water) at Water Quality London, and chair of IHEEM’s Water Technical Platform, discusses the temperature performance of cold water systems in healthcare premises, based on a study of five buildings during a London heatwave, including the potential remedial actions which can be taken.

Before the main conference presentations on the first day of last month’s Healthcare Estates 2018, professional actor, Jon Buckeridge, gave a memorable performance as the NHS’s founder, Aneurin Bevan, looking back on seven decades of the service, as if he had ‘woken up’ in 2018 at the IHEEM conference

Brandon Medical is a multi-award-winning, UK-based medical technology company with 70 years’ healthcare experience. Its medical healthcare products include operating and surgical lights, medical AV systems, telemedicine solutions, touchscreen surgeon’s control panels, and uninterruptible power and medical IT (IPS) systems.

​‘How healthy is you horse? – the future of the NHS’ – was the intriguing title of one of two opening keynotes on day one of Healthcare Estates 2018.

October’s 2018 Healthcare Estates IHEEM Awards Dinner in Manchester was attended by almost 500 guests, with the nine awards and a number of runner-up certificates recognising excellence in categories ranging from architecture to sustainable achievement.

In an article that first appeared in Canadian Healthcare Facilities, Hannah Ward, the hospital’s coordinator, Corporate Communications and Redevelopment, reports on a significant redevelopment at the 89-year-old campus at east Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital.

Increasing digitisation of the sophisticated information technology used in many hospitals and healthcare facilities has had major benefits in the provision of appropriate and timely care, but the additional efficiency gained could be jeapordised by interference caused by the presence of electromagnetic fields.

The University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust now has reportedly England’s first polypropylene recycling unit in the healthcare sector

A variety of topics related to medical device safety were discussed at a recent event in Glasgow.

Catherine Zeliotis, senior associate and Healthcare leader at global architectural practice, Stantec, discusses ‘the innovative approach to building design and layout’ used to facilitate simplified patient journeys and integrated treatment pathways at the Taussig Cancer Center at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

Adiabatic cooling specialist, Transtherm Cooling Industries, discusses the shift towards dry/wet evaporative cooling methods.

A look at the work of the recently formed IHEEM Fire Safety Technical Platform.

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.