RECENT NEWS

The Institute, following a recent review of Membership categories, is embarking upon a programme to introduce some new categories.

An event last month at London’s Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) saw 19 more professional engineering institutions, including IHEEM, sign up to the Engineering Diversity Concordat, ‘committing to address the gender, ethnicity, and disability gap, affecting the profession’.

IHEEMs Medical Devices Advisory Group (MDAG), chaired by David Easton MSc CEng FIHEEM MIET, recently provided the MHRA with comments and raised issues to be considered for the update of the Device Bulletin ‘Managing Medical Devices 2006(5)’.

On November 12 this year IHEEM will be formally celebrating the Institute’s 70th Anniversary with two high profile events – a technical symposium at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, and a lunch at the House of Lords. IHEEM President, Greg Markham, will chair the symposium, ‘Healthcare Estates 2020 – challenges and solutions’.

This year’s Healthcare Estates event takes place in Manchester on 8 and 9 October, and already record numbers have registered to attend.

A planning application for a new ‘stateof- the-art’ training centre at Eastwood Park in Falfield, South Gloucestershire has been granted, ‘after four years of investment, planning, reviews, surveys and detailed development work’, the directors of the independent healthcare training business have announced.

One of Maquet Hospital Solutions’ most recent projects has seen it deliver a new operating theatre for surgeons working at the University Hospital of Southampton.

A team of cleaning and maintenance operatives from FM and cleaning specialist, In Depth Managed Services, is keeping Crewe’s Eagle Bridge Health and Wellbeing Centre ‘spotless and in full working order’, adapting the frequency, method, and monitoring, of cleaning, based on the risk to patient safety posed by potential infections.

Hospitals in England score on average ‘around eight out of 10’ for non-clinical services such as catering and the condition of buildings, fixtures, and fittings, according to the first ever results from the new patient-led assessment programme, PLACE (Patient-Led Assessments of the Care Environment).

Healthcare estates personnel responsible for the safe management of water systems and Legionella management need to ensure that they are compliant with the new Approved Code of Practice & Technical Guidance.

In larger buildings, such as hospitals, offices, and schools, with multiple handwashing, drinking, bathroom, or kitchen facilities to provide for, effective heating, safe storage, and hygienic delivery, of hot water become key issues.

The annual gathering of like-minded individuals within healthcare engineering and estate management is nearly upon us once again, and I urge you to invest your time to attend IHEEM’s flagship event.

IHEEM is seeking candidates to contribute to its Specialist Engineering Advisory Group, which aims ‘to provide information and guidance for members, and advise on matters of special interest as they arise’, including via promoting and supporting the production of technical papers, which can be printed in HEJ.

Sunray Engineering’s ExcluLouvre is a LPCB securityrated stackable louvre system that has just received full SR3 security accreditation to LPS 1175 issue 7.

PHS Datashred, the confidential data destruction division of the £422 million PHS Group, has continued its national expansion by purchasing Bettershred, a ‘10-year old’, £250,000 turnover, Milton Keynes-based mobile document shredding business, with over 900 clients.

Synoptics Health Division has announced that Eastwood Park is to use its ProReveal test to detect proteins on surgical instruments, to complement training of sterile services professionals on how to assess the validity of decontamination processes.

Endoscopists training at Cardiff University’s Welsh Institute for Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT) Endoscopy skills laboratory at University Hospital Llandough are to benefit from enhanced facilities.

Warrington-based In Depth Managed Services, a cleaning and FM specialist, has launched a dedicated healthcare cleaning division focusing on hospitals, dialysis centres, nursing and care homes, and dental surgeries.

Following some 20 years’ successful trading in Germany and mainland Europe, plastics media specialist, Hewitech, has set up a subsidiary, Hewitech UK, in Cheltenham, and plans local production soon.

Heat transfer specialist, Fulton, has moved to a new 43,000 ft2 Bristol-based UK headquarters, a ‘centre of excellence’ for its heat transfer products, which will provide comprehensive customer support – from applications advice to delivery – and accommodate a training/seminar facility.