RECENT NEWS

As part of its emergency response, the UK Government is deploying Vernacare’s disposable bedpans and urinals, together with its bedpan supports and hygienic commode chairs, to help doctors treating Ebola in Sierra Leone.

A modular building project said to be the UK’s largest and most complex completed in the health sector to date has been handed over and opened on time, despite a challenging programme.

The Energy Institute (EI) has added two new modules to its Advanced Energy Manager qualification covering energy procurement and applying standards.

David Bailey Furniture Systems’ steady growth in the healthcare, education, and veterinary sectors, has seen it further strengthen its sales team by appointing Barry Hamer – who, having previously worked for another leading healthcare furniture system supplier, and a special needs furniture producer, has extensive furniture sales experience – as sales manager.

Building engineering training programmes must be broad-based, so that apprentices and students acquire not just the skills and competences of this sector, but also ‘fully understand the operation of the entire construction supply chain’.

Apollo Capital Projects Developments’ proposals for a new ‘state-of-the-art’ medical centre in north east Ipswich have received the green light from town planners.

The University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust’s recent replacement of ‘traditional’ bedpan washing at University College Hospital (UCH) with the Vernacare hygienic human waste disposal system is helping to improve infection prevention standards, free up nurses’ time, and improve environmental performance.

Interserve has been selected to start work on an £8 million advanced experimental station and electron microscopy facility at Diamond Light Source on the Harwell Oxford Campus.

MasterMover is keen to alert healthcare estates personnel to ‘the significant advantages’ its electric tugs can deliver within hospital environments.

Scientific Digital Imaging’s Synoptics Health Division has launched its ‘next generation’ ProReveal with advanced process validation analytics software – for detecting and analysing the amount of residual proteins on surgical instruments post- decontamination.

A new ‘smart road stud’ from New Zealand-based Solar Bright can warn drivers of potentially icy roads, and will soon be able to alert traffic management centres and maintenance depots of treacherous conditions.

Like light, colour, and temperature, sound can significantly impact on patient recovery rates in healthcare facilities; nevertheless, the importance of good acoustics is often underestimated.

The £16 million refurbishment of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary University Tower has seen 4,000 m2 of DLW Linoleum’s Marmorette flooring installed.

The Design Council has been funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to create a new online ‘Inclusive Design Hub’ for the built environment.

MTX has won the contract for a new SSCU (surgical special care unit) modular extension to the Lyme Building at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, adding an additional 12 critical care beds.

Howorth Air Technology has added a relocatable permanent or semi- permanent ‘isolation room’ to its portfolio – BioSphere – via which it says hospitals can safely contain HCAIs (healthcare-associated infections), and ‘provide absolute biological decontamination’ in just 24 hours.

BOC Healthcare, the UK’s largest medical gases business, has added MEC Medical oxygen and suction therapy devices to its portfolio of medical equipment for distribution across the UK and Ireland.

IHEEM and Eastwood Park will launch a new competency-based programme for Authorised Persons and Authorising Engineers.

Specialist in commercial glazing systems, Fendor, says it has gained a reputation for bringing innovative design to the annual Healthcare Estates event, ‘this year being no exception’.

With over a decade’s experience of working in partnership with the NHS, Eric Wright Group (EWG) says it ‘understands the importance of providing an integrated estates solution to meet the changing needs of the public sector’.