FEATURE ARTICLES

According to steam system specialist, Spirax Sarco, ‘condensate contains about a quarter of the energy of the steam from which it came – a significant amount of heat available to an energy centre’.

Speaking at a recent IHEEM seminar focusing on some of the key water hygiene and safety, and waterborne infection prevention issues, facing healthcare estates/ engineering personnel responsible for ‘large, complex’ water systems.

Next month’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition will see a new IHEEM President take up the reins, as Greg Markham, BEng (Hons) CEng FIHEEM MIET MBIFM, unusual in being one of very few private sector employees to have taken on the role (he is currently technical services director at G4S Integrated Services [UK]), succeeds Paul Kingsmore.

Hospitals and other healthcare facilities that do not regularly inspect, monitor, and, if necessary, clean, both their general ventilation ductwork and ‘often forgotten’ kitchen grease extract systems could not only be putting occupants’ health, and even lives, at risk, but could also face heavy financial penalties, significant damage to buildings, and even prosecution, a leading ductwork cleaning specialist has warned.

Getting new, and often heavy, medical equipment, such as MRI and CT scanners, into busy working hospitals, is often highly challenging – from a structural, mechanical, electrical, and logistical standpoint.

According to Stephen Lloyd, lead facilities management (FM) tutor at Gloucestershire-based training provider, Eastwood Park, ‘a combined 150 years’ invaluable estates experience has just disappeared from one hospital in the past month’, and, as many experienced healthcare estates personnel retire, and the sector struggles to attract replacements, the situation is being replicated in many hospitals UK-wide.

In an article that first appeared in US magazine, Medical Construction & Design, Mark Howell, senior vice-president of Skanska USA Building, based in Seattle, describes the design and construction of a new nine-storey, 350,000 ft2 extension to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup, Washington state.

In an article which first appeared in print in the March 2012 issue of The Australian Hospital Engineer, based on a presentation given at the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia’s 2009 National Conference, Scott Wells, energy manager, Engineering & Building Services, at Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital, and Mark Collen, a district account manager, Engineering and Process Development Division, at water treatment specialist, Nalco, discuss how sound, regular, and thorough, maintenance and cleaning of hospital air-handing units will not only enhance their operating efficiency, but will also help reduce airborne infection risk in the healthcare facilities they serve.

Susan Pearson BSc reports on a recent specialist waterborne diseases ‘masterclass’ held in Nottingham, at which leading experts discussed not only the control of Pseudomonas, but also other problematic waterborne pathogens such as Legionella, the cause of Legionnaires‘ disease.

Peter Jennings, technical director for ACO Building Drainage, which specialises in the development of corrosion-resistant drainage systems and building products, looks at the key issues to consider when specifying and installing pipework and drainage for hygiene-critical environments such as hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

HEJ editor, Jonathan Baillie, reports on some of the key advances in large capital equipment for the operating theatre. Here, he discovered, major drivers include continuing growth in the use of laparoscopic and endoscopic surgery, increasing demand for the ability to share and stream ‘live’ audio and video footage of innovative surgical techniques to other locations to improve skills and boost training, and a general desire to improve efficiency, ergonomics, and patient flow.

Turnkey construction company, MTX Contracts, has recently completed a suite of five ‘modern and future-proofed’ operating theatres at the Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan, Denbighshire, in the first phase of a 90-phase, £89.9 million redevelopment of facilities at the North Wales hospital being undertaken by Laing O’Rourke for the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.

Established in 2005 on a 78-acre site near Watford by a research-based consultancy, testing, and training organisation with a reputation for independence and impartiality, the BRE’s Watford Innovation Park is today home to a broad range of research, consultancy, and testing activities, for the built environment.

Joss Elliott, branch manager, Warrington, at national roofing contractor, Bracknell Roofing, looks at some of the ways that roofs can help health sector specifiers reduce a building’s carbon footprint.

Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has announced that, as part of the new ‘healthcare landscape’, NHS Property Services (PropCo), which will be owned by the Department of Health (DH), will take ownership of existing primary care trust (PCT) estate not transferred to community care providers.

Scott Sinden, managing director of glass processor, Essex Safety Glass (ESG), examines some of the latest trends and developments in the design, manufacture, and supply of increasingly sophisticated security glazing systems, and explains how they can benefit a wide variety of hospital and other healthcare buildings in terms not only of improving the patient environment, but also reducing maintenance requirements and enhancing infection control.

Martin Wilkinson, national sales manager at system protection specialist, Spirotech UK, highlights the ‘potential negative consequences’ of value engineering in heating system specification in the healthcare sector, and argues that system protection products such as de-aerators and dirt separators have considerable value in preventative maintenance, and in helping to extend the useful life of both the system as a whole, and its vital parts.

The NHS has one of the world’s largest and most varied estates, which at any time accommodates many of the most dependent people in society. With around 6,000 fires occurring in NHS premises each year, its duty of care – and that of other healthcare providers – demands very close attention to fire safety.

Last month’s HEJ featured an article based on a presentation at a recent IHEEM seminar given by Dr Jimmy Walker, principal investigator, Decontamination, Biosafety Unit, Microbiology Services, at the Health Protection Agency, who provided valuable advice on detecting and dealing with Pseudomonas in hospital water supplies.

In response to the enactment of the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill, and following a ‘period of transition’ in the Department of Health, the NHS Estates and Facilities Policy Division has outlined an ‘agenda’ that sets out its key responsibilities and functions as the health service enters a new era.