FEATURE ARTICLES

Adrian Parkin, operations director at Howorth Air Technology, describes how, in May, Ireland’s Aut Even Hospital near Kilkenny became the country’s first healthcare facility to be fitted out exclusively with UCV (ultra-clean ventilated) operating theatres, guaranteeing that patients’ operations take place in the cleanest air possible.

Cisco’s Internet Business Solutions Group (IBSG) is piloting a remote teleconsultation system that combines video, audio and medical technology with IP telephony to create a “consulting room” environment in a medical setting, home, office or shopping mall. Two key goals are to enable patients many miles from their nearest doctor to receive remote consultations, and to reduce pressure in hospital emergency departments. Jonathan Baillie reports.

Power quality is a serious, and often costly, issue in healthcare, especially when equipment is prone to fail without warning. Powervar’s Rob Morris considers how sensitive medical equipment can be effectively protected against power surges, spikes, electrical noise and large value transients so as to maximise the chances of it keeping operating efficiently.

Heating, ventilating and air conditioning specialist Andrews Sykes’ expertise has seen comfortable ward temperatures maintained for patients and a good working environment ensured for clinical staff at part of an ageing, yet characterful 19th Century Bristol hospital where structural constraints made installing fixed air conditioning impractical. Health Estate Journal reports.

Speaking at “Rebuilding the NHS”, a conference recently staged by Health Service Journal, John Pope, in his capacity as Department of Health (DH) programme lead, New Models of Care, examined how innovative estates planning can “continue to facilitate the shift of more health services to primary and community care settings”. Health Estate Journal reports.

Wayne Rose, marketing manager at integrated plant room manufacturer Armstrong Integrated Systems, explains how increasing use of off-site manufacture, the latest 3D modelling technology, and advances in control technology, are revolutionising boiler room design and construction.

Chris Holme, principal engineer, Gateway Review and Estates and Facilities Division, Department of Health (DH), discusses what a new requirement for those running large publicly-owned buildings to display, publicly, information on their site’s energy consumption will mean for the NHS when it comes into force on 1 October.

The extent to which a hospital’s built environment, ward and clinical layout, and the clinical procedures deployed, are directly linked to hospital-acquired infection rates, and how existing experience and studies can be best harnessed when designing new healthcare facilities, are examined by Graeme Gidney, an associate director at Buro Happold.

Simon Greenfield, estates advisor, NHS London, reports on the Fire Safety Concordat between the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA), the Department of Health and NHS London, a voluntary agreement aimed at improving fire safety in the capital’s NHS properties, and discusses the responsibilities of NHS hospitals and other healthcare facilities more widely in complying with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order.

At “Rebuilding the NHS”, a recent Health Service Journal conference in London, Daryl Murphy, a partner at leading architect and health planning specialist for the primary and community care sectors Murphy Philipps, explained how the Department of Health’s (DH’s) forthcoming HBN 11-01 Health Building Note sets out a “less prescriptive approach” to the design of new primary care and community healthcare facilities.

Ensuring business continuity in the face of an emergency is arguably more important in a healthcare facility, where lives depend on, for example, vital medical equipment continuing to function at all times, than in any other environment. IHEEM business development manager Louise Corfield examines the importance of effective resilience and emergency planning for the healthcare estate and highlights the key priorities.

Kent’s Medway NHS Foundation Trust has recently signed up to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers’ (CIBSE’s) 2008 “100 Hours of Carbon Clean Up” campaign, encouraged to participate for the third year running by its environmental team’s winning of a top award in 2007. Health Estate Journal editor Jonathan Baillie visited the Trust’s sizeable main hospital, Gillingham’s Medway Maritime, where two of the team described this year’s ambitious energy-saving plans.

IHEEM business development manager Louise Corfield examines the role of project management in the skill set of today’s healthcare estates and facilities manager, and explains how the Institute has joined forces with a number of organisations to offer members access to training in this increasingly vital area.

The rapid pace of technical, managerial and professional changes across the healthcare estates and facilities management sector mean a visit to this year’s Healthcare Estates conference and exhibition is more essential than ever. Exhibition director Hugh Robinson looks ahead to some of the highlights of the 2008 event, which should offer delegates a greater breadth and variety of content, plus access to more exhibitors, than ever before.

A classic illustration of how integrating healthcare facilities with, or very close to, wider public and community services in an ambitious primary care setting can benefit the community via added convenience and accessibility, simultaneously reducing pressure on local acute health services, was provided by two speakers at Health Service Journal’s “Rebuilding the NHS” conference in London. Health Estate Journal reports.

Health Estate Journal reports on three of the key addresses at the first Healthcare Ireland conference.

The National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers 2008 annual conference featured an introduction to healthcare fire safety engineering by David Charters, PhD, CEng, FIFireE, MIMechE., BRE Fire and Security director of Fire Engineering, and a look by Department of Health fire safety policy lead, Paul Roberts, at the key fire risk assessment provisions in the new Part K of the HTM 05-03 Health Technical Memorandum. Health Estate Journal reports.

Operating theatre and medical lamp manufacturer Brandon Medical examines the development of what it claims is the market’s first full spectrum LED lighting system, HD-LED, which it believes will be seen in numerous operating theatre applications, benefiting surgeons undertaking intricate procedures but equally, thanks to its lower costs, also helping to reduce health estates managers’ energy bills.

With ever higher patient expectations and increasing competition in healthcare services provision transforming the NHS landscape, the key priorities for estates managers in moving services forward in the next year and beyond were the common theme for three top Trust speakers at the recent 2008 HEFMA (The Health Estates & Facilities Management Association) national conference. Health Estate Journal reports.

A continuing hospital hygiene and safety focus, “systematic” measurement and publication of data on the care available at different hospitals, and strengthened rights and more information for patients to choose their location and mode of treatment, are among the measures set out in the NHS Next Stage Review Final Report – “High Quality Care For All”. Health Estate Journal reports.