FEATURE ARTICLES

A look – by a business development manager at Howorth Air Technology – at how the advent of vapourising hydrogen peroxide as a high efficacy biocide over the past 30 years has ‘simplified and de-risked bioburden reduction’.

The Harley Street Medical Area in London is home to some of the world’s most ‘cutting edge’ medical facilities, yet it is a place restricted by, but blessed with, historical architecture and listed buildings. Simon Baynham, property director at The Howard de Walden Estate, which looks after the area, explains the unique challenges involved in deploying modern medicine in a heritage environment.

Giving the opening keynote on the first day of last month’s Healthcare Estates 2017 conference, Simon Corben, director and head of Profession, NHS Estates and Facilities Efficiency & Productivity Division at NHS Improvement, outlined some of the key challenges and milestones for he and his team during his first six months in the role.

‘Having started with an empty shell’, the team at Fortius Group developed the design of a new orthopaedic surgical centre in London’s Marylebone.

The editor of HEJ’s sister publication, The Clinical Services Journal, discusses developing thinking on what constitutes the most effective healthcare cleaning practice.

A nurse call system specialist has developed a software product extension to enable easy viewing of the wealth of data generated in a ‘clean and accessible’ form.

A specialist in refurbishing and protecting water tanks discusses how they can be effectively protected rather than replaced.

A German hospital study examined the impact of aerosolreducing hygienic siphons in controlling a 4MRGN Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreak on a ‘neuro’ rehabilitation ward.

Grant Feast, business development manager (Campus) at LED specialist, Schréder, discusses best practice for LED lighting regeneration, ‘connected infrastructure’, and the potential offered by ‘smarter’ facilities.

The background to the DH’s 2016 updating of its guidance for surgical instruments, HTM 01-01.

A space vacated following a Trust’s move from paper to electronic records has been successfully converted to a new endoscopy and decontamination department.

Designers of healthcare facilities now have the opportunity to be more creative, taking inspiration from the retail and hospitality sectors.

The assistant estates director at a Dublin hospital discusses the extent to which hospital BEMS systems can increase efficiency and minimise energy consumption.

How antimicrobial copper surfaces can assist with hospital infection control and support the fight against nosocomial infection.

An expert look at the most important changes in the recently revised HTM 06-01: Electrical services supply and distribution guidance document.

A risk management specialist believes ‘poor managerial standards’ practiced by many Trusts in relation to their estates departments are due to them failing to adopt the NHS-recommended ‘systems approach’ to governance.

The D 08 Supplement to HTM 04-01 on TMVs has been updated to simplify and speed the in-service auditing and testing of these devices.

Topics at an IHEEM one-day conference last month ranged from minimising the proliferation of Pseudomonas in hospital water systems to key changes in the recently revised HTM 06-01 ‘Electrical services’ guidance.

A publicly-funded company is working with NHS Trusts around the UK to make NHS estates more energy efficient, providing interest-free Government funding to improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, and lower energy bills.

Creating the right interior designs for healthcare environments can make a fundamental difference to patients, staff, and visitors. British Gypsum discusses the key factors to consider.