RECENT NEWS

IHEEM’s Council has adopted six key strategic objectives, supported by the Institute’s CEO, Julian Amey, and the management team, as part of a ‘five-year plan’ designed to take IHEEM to the next stage of its development.

A new, fast-track built, medical records and IT building at Bath’s Royal United Hospital (RUH) – see artist’s impression – will be the UK’s first medical facility to harness a building system developed by a Bath architectural practice based around a ‘quick-to-engineer-and-build skeleton’, pre-cast concrete ‘plank’ floors, and a flat internal soffit, said to enable many buildings’ completion in ‘half the time of conventional construction methods’.

The Wandsworth Group is to provide all patient entertainment and bedside computing facilities for the South Australian Health Department, in a £6.5 million deal. One of Australia’s leading telecommunications providers, Telstra, won the tender from the Department for an integrated bedside solution that could provide secure clinical access and modern patient entertainment for over 3,700 beds across 14 hospitals.

A facility said to be the UK’s first dedicated bariatric clinic (the reception area is pictured above), has opened in the grounds of BMI’s The Clementine Churchill Hospital in Harrow.

Thirty-seven members representing 20 International Federation of Hospital Engineering (IFHE) ‘National organisations’ met in Kirkenes, northern Norway on 13 April for the Federation’s 2012 Council Meeting, preceded the previous day by a meeting of the Executive Committee, with both held prior to the official opening, on 14 April, of the latest biennnial IFHE Congress.

The International Federation of Hospital Engineering (IFHE)’s 22nd Annual Congress (HEJ – February 2012), held in April on board the Norwegian coastal steamer, the Hurtigruten m/s Midnatsol, as it journeyed down Norway’s spectacular west coast, saw almost 400 delegates, from 34 countries, enjoy topical international presentations, a varied social programme, and visits to leading hospitals.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh have officially opened the new £267 m South West Acute Hospital in Enniskillen, Northern Ireland’s first 100% single-bed NHS hospital.

A specialist supplier and maintainer of medical gas pipeline systems operating primarily in London and the Home Counties, SHJ Hospital Pipelines was founded in 1967 by ex-BOC personnel, and remains a family-owned business ‘at the forefront of medical gas technology’.

A new energy centre which will reportedly cut carbon emissions ‘by almost half’ is to be developed at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. MITIE has been awarded preferred bidder status to develop and operate the centre over a 25-year period; it will be developed in partnership with the NHS Carbon and Energy Fund.

Franke Washroom Systems’ 2012 sales catalogue is now available. Also known as Franke Sissons, the company specialises in high-calibre stainless steel and solid surface washroom solutions for commercial installations, including in healthcare.

PAROC Pro Clad is a new watertight, vapour-permeable ‘sustainable pre-clad insulation solution’ for industrial pipelines and pipe elbows, said to be cost-effective and quick and easy to install.

Premier Interlink (Waco UK), has acquired the intellectual property rights of Britspace, which ceased trading in 2011, including the design rights for Britspace products.

Commercial showering and washroom control specialist, Rada, is urging ‘a holistic approach to handwashing in the fight against infection’ with a new four-step guide to ‘assist healthcare professionals in specifying and maintaining the right handwashing applications for their requirements’.

The recent Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) Awards 2012 saw 22-year-old Philip Budd, who joined Trend Controls’ Attitude Apprenticeship Scheme in its launch year in 2008, recognised as Student of the Year.

Steam system specialist, Spirax Sarco, won praise for its commitment to investment in new UK-based production and R&D facilities when Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, visited its Runnings Road, Cheltenham site, where the company has invested £25 million modernising its manufacturing facilities and expanding into a five-acre site connected to the original facility by a tunnel.

Fire risk assessments (see also fire safety-related articles, pages 37-42 of this issue) addressing life safety and/or property protection, fire safety audits, and fire safety training, are among the services offered by the not-for-profit organisation, the Fire Protection Association (FPA).

Representatives from exhibitors at this October’s Healthcare Estates 2012 conference and exhibition met recently at Manchester Central with the exhibition’s organisers, Step Exhibitions, to provide feedback on how they felt the exhibition could be improved, discuss how to achieve one of the key aims – attracting more NHS and other public sector visitors, and hear more about some of the key features planned.

Eastwood Park will be running two fire safety courses this month – ‘Firecode for healthcare premises’ (11-13 June), and ‘Fire risk assessment for healthcare premises’ (25-27 June). Paul Beech, Fire Safety tutor, Eastwood Park Training says: “It is common for healthcare managers to have their own fire safety staff undertake fire risk assessments in complex premises; yet many have only limited experience in this area, and few have formal qualifications.

The Department of Health says around 1,500 cancer patients annually will benefit from ‘a cutting edge cancer treatment’ – proton beam therapy – which will be available at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust’s Oak Road Patient Treatment Centre in Manchester, and at University College London Hospital, from 2017, thanks to an investment of ‘up to £250 million’ by the NHS.

Anne Maguire, a highly experienced estates and facilities professional and Chartered Engineer who is particularly committed to ensuring that both new entrants to the field, and seasoned EFM personnel, continue to develop good skills, has been appointed as chair of the Institute’s Education and Training Committee