RECENT NEWS

Just prior to the Biomedical Association of Malaysia’s (BEAM) 2013 Hospital Engineering Conference and Exhibition at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in Malaysia in September this year, the IFHE held meetings of both its Executive Committee and Council.

The chairman of IHEEM’s Ventilation Technical Platform, Richard Knight, CEng. MCIBSE, MIHEEM, has appealed for existing and new readers of HEJ and IHEEM members with a strong interest in healthcare ventilation to join.

During September, IHEEM presented symposia in Hong Kong and Singapore, and the President, Greg Markham, and CEO, Julian Amey, participated in the IFHE Council meeting and BEAM (Biomedical Engineering Association of Malaysia) Conference & Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Well over 400 guests attended the annual IHEEM Awards Dinner at the Manchester Midland Hotel, a stone’s throw from Manchester Central, on the evening of the first day of Healthcare Estates 2013.

The Government and Construction Leadership Council will unveil its plans for the future of the UK construction industry at Talk Construction, a conference that the organisers describe as ‘a landmark event’, to be held on 25 and 26 November this year at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster in front of more than 500 delegates.

IHEEM and specialist healthcare training provider, Eastwood Park, announced at last month’s Healthcare Estates show the launch of a ‘new and refreshed’ Authorising Engineers’ development programme.

The Government is ‘in serious danger of killing off the air conditioning inspection regime’, claims Bob Towse, head of technical and safety at the Building & Engineering Services Association (B&ES).

Lighting in the NHS is often over five years’ old, on 24 hours a day, and based on inefficient technology. However, now LEDs and smart controls can deliver dramatic energy savings – while improving the environment for staff and patients alike.’

NHS Trusts and healthcare organisations from across England assembled in London on 17 October to witness the official launch of NHS Sustainability Day 2014, which IHEEM is supporting, and for which Health Estate Journal is the official media partner.

The last general survey of the IHEEM membership took place in summer 2008, and went some way to setting the Institute’s strategy for the period since that time, the Institute’s recruitment and membership manager, Chris Parker, reports.

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.