FEATURE ARTICLES

In the first two of three infection prevention and control (‘IPC’)-themed articles published late last year in HEJ (October and November 2024) from senior architects at HLM, associate director for healthcare, Neil Orpwood, and head of Healthcare, Melanie Jacobsen Cox, focused on the need for early collaboration between designers, architects, and IPC teams, in creating safe healthcare environments, and an apparent lack of knowledge on the subject among some healthcare design teams. In the third, Neil Orpwood explains how HLM developed an improved internal design tool to help its architects implement, manage, and track, IPC design, derogation, and risk.

The opening Day One keynote session at last year’s Healthcare Estates conference saw three complementary presentations on the importance of engineering, the challenges of recruiting more engineers to help address current and anticipated skills shortages, and some of the work by the Engineering Council, EngineeringUK, and the NHS England NHS Estates and Facilities team – working in tandem – to strengthen and grow the engineering workforce, enhance training and career development, and ensure high professional standards.

At Healthcare Estates 2024, three speakers representing large organisations – NHS England, multinational professional services partnership, EY, and the healthcare division of Siemens AG, discussed some of today’s major workforce challenges and opportunities.

NHS England has recently published several new guidance documents to help NHS Trusts better understand and comply with the Building Safety Act as regards both new and existing buildings undergoing construction work

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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’.

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).

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.

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’.

Charlotte Hutchinson, Associate partner, Carter Jonas (London), discusses the long-term impacts of the global pandemic on the future provision of healthcare real estate

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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.