RECENT NEWS

Ken Ignatius Murray, a member of the Institute of Hospital Engineering for many years who represented the UK at international conferences, delivering papers on a wide range of hospital engineering projects, has died, aged 86.

Promoting sustainable development, strengthening local and national sustainability networks and partnerships, and reducing the NHS’s carbon footprint, are among the key topics set for discussion during a high profile conference to be staged jointly in Bradford by IHEEM’s Yorkshire Branch and the Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust during this September’s British Science Festival.

Representatives from 14 countries from the total membership of 32 national organisations attended the IFHE’s Council meeting in Paris on 3 June, writes Andy Wavell, who attended on IHEEM’s behalf with fellow IHEEM Membership and International Affairs Committee representative, Ronnie Browne.

Health sector expert Alan Maynard, Professor of Health Economics at the University of York, a former chair of York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, and a member of the Prime Minister’s “kitchen cabinet” on health, plus writer, broadcaster, and commentator Roy Lilley – twice voted top UK speaker on NHS topics – are among those set to speak at this year’s Healthcare Estates conference, which takes place from 1-2 November at Manchester Central.

Gradus has installed a variety of wall protection at The James Cook University Hospital’s new £35 million cancer centre in Middlesbrough.

Aggreko has provided temporary heating and dehumidification equipment to main contractors FCC Elliott Construction to assist in the construction of the new 312-bed South West Acute Hospital at Enniskillen in Northern Ireland.

Airwave Healthcare has completed the supply and integration of a new patient entertainment and digital signage system to the privately-run St Anthony’s Hospital in North Cheam, Surrey.

Scientists within the University of Birmingham’s School of Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering are developing, for potential hospital use free-of-charge, “virtual scenarios” incorporating sounds, sights, and smells, to help hospitalised trauma victims and patients who cannot go outdoors to convalesce quicker.

Power and automation technology specialist, ABB, has welcomed the EU’s introduction of minimum efficiency levels for LV motors, saying the new requirements are “in line with its focus” on providing customers with high efficiency motors both for the NEMA (National Electrical Manufacturers Association) market in the US, and the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) market worldwide.

Mediplan has supplied nurse call and patient entertainment equipment to the new £300 million Forth Valley Royal Acute Hospital in Larbert, in Scotland, the UK’s first healthcare facility with a robotic delivery system for meals, laundry, and clinical waste, and, with 860 beds, 16 operating theatres, and 4,000 rooms, the country’s largest completed healthcare construction project yet.

NHS Tayside and the North of Scotland Planning Group have chosen Brtiplas’s anti-ligature Safevent windows for new mental healthcare facilities at the Murray Royal Hospital in Perth and the Stracathro Hospital in Angus.

Water ingress through roof structures can considerably damage building interiors.

A healthcare centre under development as part of the £13 million regeneration of Loudoun Square in Butetown, Cardiff, is Wales’ first healthcare project to attain a BREEAM “Excellent” rating.

According to the npower Business Energy Index (nBEI), “an annual report tracking business opinion on energy use, energy risk, and carbon emissions”.

Capita Symonds, the multidisciplinary consultancy operating in the building design, real estate, civil engineering, environment, management, and transport sectors, has appointed Simon Hembury as a healthcare specialist.

Asteral has been appointed to a new national NHS framework to supply, manage, and maintain, ultrasound equipment. The framework removes Trusts’ need to go through the OJEU process themselves, and “provides more competitive pricing”.

The British Standards Institution (BSI) has extended the scope of its product testing and certification services under the International Electrotechnical Commission for Electrical Equipment (IECEE) Certification Body (CB) Scheme.

With professional engineers holding Incorporated Engineer (IEng) status currently significantly under-represented on its register, the Engineering Council (EngC) has launched a concerted drive to raise such professionals’ profile and “increase awareness and understanding of the qualification’s value”.

Over 40,000 m2 of Forbo’s Marmoleum and Step safety flooring ranges, which met the project’s “strict hygiene, durability, and sustainability requirements”, have been installed in a 500-bed extension at NHS Fife’s Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.

NHS Tayside and the North of Scotland Planning Group have chosen Brtiplas’s anti-ligature Safevent windows for new mental healthcare facilities at the Murray Royal Hospital in Perth and Stracathro Hospital in Angus.