FEATURE ARTICLES

In March 2010 work is due to start on the largest hospital construction project in Denmark’s history. Tom Danielsen, a partner at leading Scandinavian architectural practice CF Møller, part of the international consultancy team which won the commission for the New University Hospital in Aarhus last December, describes the thinking and philosophy behind a ground-breaking development set to be “the size of a small town”.

The Government’s Parliamentary Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee (IUSSC), which in January launched an enquiry into the current “state” of the UK engineering sector, recently held a session in Westminster to hear evidence on the topic from expert bodies. IHEEM chief executive John Long was among those to draft written evidence for the Committee that not only provides an overview of the current UK engineering sector and its major challenges, but also recommends ways to maximise engineers’ contribution in the future.

Mike Ralph, Great Ormond Street Hospital’s estates and facilities director, tells Health Estate Journal editor Jonathan Baillie about his life-long passion for engineering, a varied career in health estate, the “ups and downs” of the profession, his worries for its future, and the challenge of providing continuity of care at a top children’s hospital as a major redevelopment project takes shape at the site’s heart.

Medical modular construction specialist Cadolto is designing and providing, to tight deadlines, a series of 14 hi-tech hospitals for the Russian Federation as part of a major modernisation of the Russian healthcare system. The company’s managing director Gerhard Flohr discusses the challenge of fulfilling what is believed to be the world’s biggest ever modular building order.

The conclusions of an in-depth German study into the optimal design of operating rooms and their associated storage / auxiliary facilities are examined by Sonja Koneczny, Dipl.-Ing.(FH), M.Sc., of the Experimental-OR and Ergonomics Department, University Hospital Tuebingen, Germany.

IHEEM needs to take determined steps to safeguard its future and increase its standing as an organisation of influence, the Institute’s new president Rob Smith tells Nicholas Marshall.

Nick Heane, UK managing director of water dispenser manufacturer and supplier Tana Water UK, argues that, by using special water dispensers that treat water with UV light immediately before dispense, hospitals and other facilities can potentially significantly reduce healthcare-acquired infection rates.

Les Blennerhasset, technical director of Dortek, one of the UK and Ireland’s leading suppliers of hygienic doors to the healthcare sector, examines the potential difficulties encountered when specifying doors in the healthcare environment and how to overcome them.

Accurate, appropriate air-handling unit selection can increase energy savings and reduce carbon footprints, says Joe Wieckowski, general sales manager, Colman Moducel.

The recently expanded endoscopy facility and a new sterilising and disinfecting unit at St Joseph’s Hospital, Newport receive HTM 2030-compliant water via water purification and sterilisation equipment supplied by ELGA Process Water. Health Estate Journal reports.

Spirotech, the specialist supplier of deaerators and dirt separators for heating and cooling systems, examines how effective deaeration and dirt separation can control and significantly improve system water quality.

With construction work now underway on the new £227 million PFI-funded Pembury Hospital near Tunbridge Wells in Kent, Jonathan Baillie talks to John Cooper of architects Anshen + Allen, who is convinced that this exciting new acute facility will become the first of a new generation of 100% single-bedroom hospitals in the UK.

Dr Sue Hignett Ph.D and Jun Lu M.Arch B.Eng of the Healthcare Ergonomics and Patient Safety research Unit (HEPSU), Department of Human Sciences, Loughborough University, explore the quality of research available for designers and clinical decision-makers in healthcare facility design.

A growing number of young patients at Sheffield Children’s Hospital will soon be able to keep up with schoolwork, access TV and other entertainment services, and telephone friends and family, all at no cost, following the installation of a sophisticated bedside patient entertainment/ computing system supplied by Wandsworth Group. In a believed UK first, the equipment is being entirely funded by the hospital’s charity. Health Estate Journal reports.

“Cluttered, dirty and overcrowded” wards, “sloppy hygiene” practices among nurses and clinicians, including use of commodes and bedpans that had already been “condemned”, and board and management-level failure to respond to repeated requests for more nursing staff, were among the major contributors to the 90 elderly patient Clostridium difficile deaths at three large West Kent NHS hospitals between April 2004 and September 2006, a recent BBC 1 Panorama programme suggested. Health Estate Journal reports.

Glimpses of micro-engineering excellence needed for new generations of operating theatre and diagnostic department robotics were provided at a London conference. Nicholas Marshall reports.

How the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 has shifted responsibility for hospital fire safety from local fire authorities to so-called “responsible persons”, and the implications for senior management / board-level personnel, as well as for hospital fire officers, fire wardens and department managers charged with implementation, was expertly examined by a leading expert in fire law at May’s National Association of Healthcare Fire Officers (NAHFO) 2008 conference in Nottingham. Jonathan Baillie reports.

The use of disposable curtains is one of the key infection prevention measures adopted by a major Trust in London, reports Health Estate Journal.

Phil Wade, sales and marketing director, and Mathew Wakelam, VoIP product manager, at alarm and communication specialist Static Systems Group, discuss wireless VoIP’s potential in healthcare establishments and examine how, in particular, the technology can be successfully integrated with nurse call systems.

Following recent, high profile cases of public bodies “mislaying” sensitive information, Health Estate Journal considers the data security implications of increasing migration of patient and staff records to a central electronic NHS database, and examines the key issues for those responsible for maintaining such data safely and securely in hospitals and other care environments.