FEATURE ARTICLES

As part of a special IHEEM event held in Westminster late last year, IHEEM’s President updated guests on progress with the five ‘key themes’ he had set out for his Presidency on taking up the role the previous October.

An independent consultant, Authorising Engineer in ventilation/water and pressure systems, and Eastwood Park trainer, discusses the importance of HVAC systems in healthcare facilities, and equally, the need for good training on such plant for healthcare engineering and healthcare estates management personnel.

The WHO has identified failure of waste management as a serious issue for healthcare facilities to tackle. James Lee, managing director of clinical and healthcare waste sack supplier, Cromwell Polythene, looks at what can be done to tackle this.

Tom Makin BSc Hons, MWMSoc, discusses a pilot study at a large teaching hospital comparing the efficacy of the Medi-Shower silver impregnated showerhead and hose with fixed and adjustable showerheads in a healthcare environment.

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.