RECENT NEWS

The IFHE continues to enjoy a close working relationship with the World Health Organization (WHO), writes the Federation’s WHO liaison officer, Paul Merlevede, who attended a Global Forum on Medical Devices held in late November last year at the Organization’s Geneva offices.

The conference programme for the 23rd IFHE World Congress, to be held at the UCA University in Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires, from 12-16 October this year (HEJ – February, May, and August 2013, and February 2014), is an extremely varied and topical one.

To help ensure that members of the Institute’s Yorkshire Branch fully understand current emergency lighting regulations and standards, Alan Daniels, technical director at P4, one of the UK’s leading self-testing emergency lighting specialists, recently updated Branch members on recent changes to the ‘pivotal reference code of practice in the UK’, BS5266 Part 1.

David Easton, chair of IHEEM’s Medical Devices Technology Platform, says he is keen that ‘all interested parties’ are aware that the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) has published its revision of the Device Bulletin 2006(5) November 2006.

meeting of Authorising Engineers (MGPS) – all members of IHEEM’s register for such personnel – held in London recently saw a variety of topics discussed, a work plan agreed for the forthcoming year, and our two overseas members from Germany.

IHEEM has announced that it is to jointly manage, and support, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine’s (IPEM) Voluntary Register of Clinical Technologists (VRCT), in conjunction with IPEM and the Association of Renal Technologies (ART).

IHEEM President, Greg Markham, has been invited to speak at the Hospital Build & Infrastructure Middle East Exhibition & Congress (HBI-ME), being held at the Dubai International Convention & Exhibition Centre from 2-4 June 2014.

A ‘compelling free programme of events examining some of the key issues impacting on the estates departments responsible for maintaining and running hospitals efficiently’.

Forbo Flooring Systems’ Eternal project vinyl and Surestep safety vinyl products feature within a £6 millon Neighbourhood Health Centre in Anfield, Liverpool. Considerable community involvement during the Townsend Lane development saw local people put forward their requirements, whilst being kept ‘in the loop’ throughout.

Two ‘state-of-the-art’, recently opened, NHS health centres in Colne and Great Harwood in Lancashire have been fitted with ‘sophisticated lifesafety equipment’ from C-TEC by installation company Solid State.

Staff members at Brian House Children’s Hospice in Blackpool have seen the difference a sensory environment can make to children with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions.

The Kent Institute of Medicine & Surgery (KIMS), a £95 million independent hospital on a seven-acre site near Maidstone, which, it is claimed, will ‘transform acute and specialist health provision in the county’, has been officially opened by HRH The Duke of Gloucester.

Vanguard Healthcare, ‘popularly known as the world’s leading provider of pop-up hospitals’, will showcase ‘international best practice’.

A panel discussion at the Electrical Contractors’ Association’s (ECA) entitled ‘Surviving the Recovery’ saw firm agreement that ‘the industry must modernise to survive and grow’.

Chaired by Peter Hansford, the Government’s Chief Construction Advisor, the panel included Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders; Martin Bailey, chief innovation officer at NG Bailey; John Mead, partner at Gardiner and Theobald, Noble Francis, Construction Products Association economics director, and Paul Reeve, ECA director of Business Services.

Pegler Yorkshire’s new ‘online selector tool’, INSIGHT, provides installers and contractors with ‘a way to identify the most effective method to join pipework in any given situation’ via three ‘simple stages of search and selection’ – confirming the project type, application, and pipework system.

Spirax Sarco has delivered a project to provide the steam for heating, hot water, humidification, and laundry services, at the New South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland.

Building contractors, Lindrick Construction, have begun the refurbishment of a Victorian house with the iconic Liverpool address, One Penny Lane, to create a 900 ft2 medical facility with treatment and consulting rooms for Spire Liverpool Hospital.

Prater has secured a roofing and cladding contract for the new £240 m Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, which is scheduled to open in the summer of 2015, at which point the existing buildings will be demolished and replaced with parkland.

Warning that corrosion of pipework and components in water-based heating systems ‘nearly always results in costly repairs and unwelcome disruption’.

The ISS Facility Services Healthcare catering service at The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust has achieved the Soil Association’s Food for Life Bronze Standard Award – the first time a contract caterer has achieved this important accreditation in the NHS – and is now looking to progress to the Silver standard.