FEATURE ARTICLES

A £29 billion investment in hospitals, health centres and equipment has played a major role in driving forward improvements in patient care, a comprehensive assessment of the NHS estate affirms.

In some circumstances staff must work near live electrical conductors, and, as the HSE’s Wayne Vernon writes, there are detailed regulations that must be adhered to.

Mick Compton, Authorised Person (Sterilizers), gives an insight into the history and role of an AP(S) and reports on a two day discussion forum at W&H Sterilization in Pedrengo, Italy.

Dalkia’s new CarbonCare service has been designed to help businesses in the battle to reduce carbon emissions. James Verrinder reports from its London launch.

Following the recent ban on smoking in enclosed public spaces, it is in hospitals where the sick, bereaved or emotionally unstable are most likely to find it difficult to abstain, according to the company that provides security services at many NHS hospitals.

The long-awaited guidance document from the Department of Health is colourful in more ways then one. Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 07-01: Safe Management of Healthcare Waste was published in December 2006 and replaced the old “purple book” (The Safe Management of Clinical Waste). Was it a sign of things to come that the old guidance had a purple cover, a colour which is now used to indicate cytotoxic and cytostatic wastes? Catalyst Waste Solutions’ managing director Nigel Turner explains the new legislation.

Hospital security must always focus on the need to protect essential healthcare facilities and provide a safe environment for staff and visitors. This can seem like a tall order for organisations struggling to maintain essential public services with finite resources and it is understandable that decisions about security spending can present difficult choices, reports Alex Carmichael, British Security Industry Association technical and membership services director.

The potentially illegal photographing of patients is highlighted in new Department of Health guidance on the use of mobile phones in NHS hospitals. Health Estate Journal reports.

ITIL process adoption may be a prerequisite for the National Programme for IT (NPfIT), but implementation is far from straightforward. IT services company Plan-Net has been assisting Barts and The London NHS Trust with implementing its ambitious ITIL processes deployment.

Healthcare Estates is now only two months away, and potential delegates to the IHEEM Conference who would like to take advantage of the early booking discount need to act promptly. Delegates booking before 7 September 2007 will receive a significant saving on places at the IHEEM Conference, which, with its associated exhibition, forms Healthcare Estates (16-17 October 2007 at the Harrogate International Centre).

The Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society (CHES) and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) are partnering with a significant education initiative. They are providing construction and contract personnel with the insights necessary to recognise the inherent risks of progressing healthcare facility projects in patient-occupied buildings, writes Gordon D. Burrill, P. Eng.

Organisations are frequently frustrated by the unbudgeted cost of crime and insecurity but do not necessarily take proactive measures to resolve the problem. Security is rarely viewed as an investment – protection is not as expensive as insecurity, writes Nick van der Bijl, BEM, chairman, National Association for Healthcare Security.

Over the past five years, a remarkable confluence of unprecedented healthcare construction and green building tools and programs tailored for the healthcare sector have created a bold vision of what a 21st Century hospital can be. Informed by the fundamental precept of “first, do no harm”, this quiet revolution is shaping the way hospitals and other healthcare facilities are planned, designed, constructed and operated.

As the fight continues to limit the spread of MRSA infections in hospitals, Health Estate Journal examines how one games-based learning organisation has produced a novel way of assisting.

In support of NHS governance arrangements for assuring design quality and improving the patient environment, the Department of Health has recommended that all Trusts and PCTs embarking on new developments, whether they are refurbishment or new build projects, should appoint a Design Champion to their board of directors. Health Estate Journal reports.

Information on breakthroughs in prion decontamination and detection were presented by Dr Graham Jackson, head of molecular diagnostics at the Medical Research Council, to a Central Sterilising Club meeting held in Manchester earlier this year.

Throughout the UK, hospitals are embarking on new-build programmes to meet the needs of growing communities. However, site acreage and accommodation are often already under pressure, as Dale Power Solutions found when it was commissioned to increase standby power availability at the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

As an increasing number of Trusts secure Foundation status, the importance of achieving excellence in estate management is further heightened. Report by Thomas Howard, a commercial property expert and member of the health team at law firm Browne Jacobson.

A report by the House of Commons Committee of Public Accounts has highlighted anxieties about the way in which information technology provision for the NHS is progressing. Health Estate Journal reports.

Infection prevention and control in hospitals is a constant battle. The issues have become ever more pressing in recent years with a constant stream of headlines about healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) and the so-called ‘superbug’ MRSA. Intuition’s programme marketing manager Lee-Anne Smith explains how e-learning can help win the fight against infection.