FEATURE ARTICLES

Mark Bosley, systems specialist at designer, developer and manufacturer of water purification systems for the healthcare and research sectors Purite, examines the growing regulatory framework governing the purity and quality of water supplied to decontamination centres, and discusses some of the latest technologies used to ensure the required standards are met.

Aspiring and experienced surgeons across the West Midlands can now hone their skills in a highly realistic simulated operating theatre environment following the recent opening of a new surgical skills training centre at the University Hospital of Coventry and Warwickshire, said to be among the UK’s first such facilities to offer training using real human tissue.

Greater consistency in NHS signage, coupled with the assurance of a high quality, competitively-priced range of signage and wayfinding products and services, are among the benefits promised to estates and facilities teams UK-wide following the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency’s (NHS PASA) recent launch of a new pan-Government signage framework agreement. Jonathan Baillie reports, and talks to several signage suppliers appointed to the framework about their expertise, skills and recent experience.

As one of the UK’s largest builders of healthcare facilities, construction company Morgan Ashurst is accustomed to delivering complex, challenging hospital projects. The construction of a new oncology centre at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton for Taunton and Somerset NHS Foundation Trust – said to be the first new stand-alone radiotherapy centre to be built in the UK for almost 20 years – was no exception. Health Estate Journal reports.

With all aspects of hospital hygiene under the spotlight, Jonathan Baillie examines the important new role of Authorising Engineer (Decontamination), explains, with the help of experienced sterilisation/decontamination specialist Mick Compton, how the role developed, and discusses the key part that IHEEM will play as the only current UK institute with the authority to register AE (D)s as a mark of their competence and skills.

In an article based on a paper presented at the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia’s (IHEA) 2008 National Conference, Glen Hadfield, manager, assets & sustainability systems, Sydney West Area Health Service, discusses the benefits of cogeneration, highlighting the experiences and conclusions gained via a number of recent projects at hospitals in New South Wales.

The financial and practical impact on healthcare provision of an ageing population, the growing pressure to design sustainable healthcare facilities, and the need for a more imaginative, innovative approach to planning healthcare buildings which meet both current and future demands, were among recurring themes at a recent conference staged in Holland by the NVTG, an IFHE national member and one of the Netherlands’ leading organisations for healthcare estates and facilities management personnel. Jonathan Baillie reports.

David Powell and Alex McKinlay, both from property consultant Drivers Jonas LLP’s planning and development team, offer some strategic advice on land sales in a downturn.

Dealing sensitively with local wildlife, necessitating a phased demolition of an existing 1930s-built hospital to avoid disturbing bats and badgers in and around the construction site, was among the challenges successfully overcome by Mansell in completing the new Brentwood Community Hospital in Essex to a standard which has both delighted local people and secured the impressive new facility an “Excellent” NEAT rating. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Three Iranian academics examine how existing experience in inpatient and other ward design can be harnessed to ensure the creation of comfortable, relaxing and, as far as is possible, individually “tailored” hospital accommodation in the future.

Jeremy Dodge, head of technical services and product development at specialist cable management manufacturer Marshall-Tufflex, examines how the latest such systems are designed not only to be to be much quicker and easier to install, but equally to meet the higher aesthetic expectations demanded by estates personnel, and even to help combat infection spread. Also examined are the pros and cons of plastic systems over their metal counterparts.

A new cancer treatment and haematology centre which brings together into one modern, “cutting edge” facility oncology services from a diverse range of properties, many of them 1940s-built, at Oxford’s Churchill Hospital, is claimed to be among the most eco-friendly, as well as technologically advanced, such units yet seen in Europe. Jonathan Baillie reports.

With the current ProCure 21 framework set to be superseded next year, Elizabeth Smith, a former nurse, and now health accounts manager for ProCure21 at construction, civil engineering, and property services company Osborne, examines the fast-tracking benefits already afforded by a system which, despite its achievements, is still not without its critics today.

Despite the current difficult economic conditions making it even more of a challenge for estates personnel to deliver the ever higher standards expected by patients, clinicians, and the Department of Health, the profession has much to aspire and look forward to, and numerous successes to celebrate.

Prototypes of new designs of 11 items of hospital furniture and equipment, ranging from a “21st Century” commode to an “intelligent mattress” that changes colour on becoming “compromised by body fluids”,

In a paper presented at the Institute of Hospital Engineering Australia’s (IHEA) 59th Annual National Conference in Canberra last year, Klaas Visser, of KAV Consulting, examines effective ways to reduce CO2 emissions and water use in hospitals.

How an overheating television apparently started a fire and a sizeable subsequent explosion at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital last September, the ensuing evacuation, and the valuable lessons learned, were the subject of an informative recent seminar presentation by Mike Ralph, at the time the hospital’s estates and facilities director. Jonathan Baillie reports on the presentation, given at a joint IHEEM and NAHFO “Fire Safety within Healthcare Premises” seminar in London.

Jane Southworth, senior associate, environment group, and Michael Conroy Harris, senior legal manager, construction group, at international law firm Eversheds, consider the key steps NHS Trusts need to take to prepare to forthcoming Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme, and question what drivers currently exist to encourage delivery of healthcare buildings that play their part in carbon reduction.

Cameron Shantz, a principal with one of Canada’s largest architectural firms, Parkin Architects, and project architect for a major reconfiguration and reorganisation of clinical and other spaces at the St. Mary’s General Hospital in Kitchener, Ontario, describes the rationale behind the project, and highlights the resulting benefits for patients, staff and visitors.

Ensuring that modern healthcare facilities are designed, constructed and maintained sustainably is now as important as specifying the right equipment to provide the very best in healthcare.